Tugging at his collar and dabbing nervously at his brow, actor Charlie Sheen admitted on video he paid more than $53,500 for sex with Heidi Fleiss' prostitutes.
He used the call-girl ring at least 27 times, including Christmas Day 1992, according to the deposition played Thursday in the Hollywood madam's money laundering trial.Earlier Thursday, federal prosecutors suffered a setback when their star witness refused to testify. Shana Fleiss, Heidi Fleiss' sister, had inside knowledge of Fleiss' prostitution and money laundering operation, prosecutors said.
U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall found Shana Fleiss in contempt of court and ordered her confined to her home until she testifies. The government was expected to rest its case Friday after calling an IRS investigator.
In the 70-minute videotape, filmed Saturday, Sheen identified seven checks and discussed 20 cash payments paid to prostitutes between late 1991 and mid-1993. He looked about nervously as he recalled speaking with Fleiss on the telephone about the "type, age, time, place" of his paid sexual partners.
Asked by a prosecutor about the sixth check he wrote for sex, Sheen deadpanned, "It's starting to add up." The full courtroom, including Fleiss, laughed.
Some of the prostitutes were paid as much as $3,000 apiece; the Christmas prostitute received $2,000.
Sheen, who is engaged, issued a statement after the court session saying, "I apologize to my family, my future wife and my close friends for any embarrassment these incidents may have caused."
Sheen testified under a limited grant of immunity. None of his testimony could be used if the state chose to prosecute him for solicitation. He was allowed to testify on videotape because he is in Virginia.