Paul M. Fleiss - History

History

Fleiss initially trained as a pharmacist and osteopath. He relocated from Detroit to California to take advantage of 1962 legislation allowing an osteopath to convert his degree to an MD. He earned his B.S. in pharmacy from Wayne State University, his D.O. from the University of California, Irvine, and his M.P.H. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Fleiss is the father of "Hollywood madam" Heidi Fleiss. In 1994, Fleiss pled guilty to charges of conspiracy and bank fraud. He helped Heidi launder hundreds of thousands of dollars by lying on her loan application and falsely claiming that she was an employee of his medical practice. He was sentenced to one day in prison and community service. Following the felony convictions, the Medical Board of California placed him on probation for 1 year and publicly reprimanded him for "unprofessional conduct" and "dishonesty".

Fleiss was the subject of a 1996 made-for-TV movie entitled "The Good Doctor: The Paul Fleiss Story". In it, Fleiss (played by Michael Gross) was portrayed sympathetically, as the victim of his daughter Heidi's machinations. The New York Times noted that "the sweeping inaccuracies in 'The Good Doctor: The Paul Fleiss Story' evidently didn't hurt its ratings", and the film was subsequently retitled "The Making of a Hollywood Madam" and shown on cable television.