Director Faces Pandering Charge : Prostitution: Police say Ivan Nagy, former boyfriend of accused Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss, ran his own call girl ring. Alleged accomplice and two other women also are arrested.

A film and television director with ties to Columbia Pictures and to alleged madam to the stars Heidi Fleiss was arrested Wednesday on a pandering charge by the same task force that arrested Fleiss in June.

Ivan Nagy, 55, a former boyfriend of Fleiss, was taken into custody outside a La Cienega Boulevard coffee shop about 11:30 a.m. Police said Nagy went to the restaurant to celebrate the notoriety he has received from the Fleiss case. His host, a vice officer he has known for years, instead arrested Nagy as he stepped out of his white Mercedes-Benz.

In addition to Nagy, police took into custody three suspected madams allegedly involved in high-priced Westside call girl rings, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Nagy and his alleged partner, Julie Conaster, 23, were booked on one count each of pandering for allegedly recruiting women to become prostitutes. Police said Nagy and Conaster operated a ring involving 15 to 20 women. Nagy was released on $25,000 bail.

At another location, police arrested Tomasina Esformes, 42, and Alisha Radke, 43, who allegedly operated a separate prostitution business involving 30 to 40 call girls.

“This is an effort to break the back of organized commercial prostitution on the Westside,”LAPD Administrative Vice Capt. Glen Ackerman said. “These were high-dollar madams with high-dollar clients. These were customers of substantial means from all sorts of businesses. There will be further shoes to fall.”

Nagy, a Hungarian-born director with a number of television movie and series credits, also had business dealings with Columbia Pictures and was a social acquaintance of the studio’s production chief, Michael Nathanson.

Columbia is quietly looking into whether any company executives may have used film development money or other studio funds to pay for prostitution or drugs, sources said Wednesday.

The in-house investigation is described as a standard corporate procedure to ensure that the studio has no legal or financial exposure. Sources said no evidence of wrongdoing has been found so far.

Columbia’s name surfaced Tuesday in connection with Fleiss when an attorney representing Nathanson publicly denied that his client was involved with the alleged madam. The unusual statement came amid persistent speculation linking Nathanson to the scandal, which began when Fleiss was arrested for alleged felony pimping, pandering and narcotics violations. Her attorney said he expects her to be charged, and she is to appear in court Monday.

Police said Fleiss, 27, has catered to a wide Hollywood clientele. The Times reported Sunday that she socialized with a number of celebrities, including rock star Billy Idol, producer Robert Evans and actress Victoria Sellers. Gossip columns reported recently that an unidentified executive at a major studio may have used movie development funds to procure prostitutes.

In an interview, Fleiss supported Nathanson’s contention that there was no illegal activity between them. She says she and Nathanson were social acquaintances, and that she met him through Nagy, who has directed TV movies of the week and episodes of such shows as “Starsky and Hutch.”

At the time, she said, she was dating Nagy, and the two of them would occasionally socialize with Nathanson, who was Nagy’s friend.

The romance between Fleiss and Nagy was brief and their breakup protracted and hostile. Fleiss was jubilant when she learned of Nagy’s arrest in the course of a conversation with his attorney, Robert Shapiro. She said she celebrated for an hour and a half with about a dozen friends. “I don’t care what kind of trouble I’m in,” she said. “I’m definitely going out tonight.”

Nathanson declined to comment, and Nagy could not be reached Wednesday for comment. However, Nathanson’s representatives have acknowledged that the executive knows Nagy professionally, an assertion Nagy confirmed in an interview last month.

Nathanson’s private investigator, Anthony Pellicano, denied that Nathanson ever had any improper dealings with Nagy. But he confirmed that at one point in 1992 Nagy did have an agreement with Columbia for a movie titled “Twice Seduced” to be produced by Brad Wyman.

“The deal was that if it got made, (Nagy) would get the (producing) credit only, and no--I repeat, no--compensation,” Pellicano said. Nagy, he said, “never received any money from Columbia, and the movie did not get made because Brad Wyman pulled out and . . . went on to make another movie without Nagy.”

Wyman did not return calls. Columbia officials have declined to comment.

Pellicano said the deal with Wyman had been signed off on by Columbia executives, including Nathanson. The deal did not go forward.

“You know how development deals go,” Pellicano said. “Twenty-five thousand or $50,000 gets spent to develop something, and then the studio pulls out and it doesn’t get made” for any number of reasons.

Sources close to Columbia said that the in-house investigation started as long as three weeks ago, and that it involves a close examination of whether company funds were used for drugs and call girls.

Columbia and its parent company, Sony Pictures Entertainment, declined to comment on the alleged investigation Wednesday. But sources said company executives were surprised that Nathanson’s name surfaced so abruptly--and through a privately retained attorney and private investigator.

“Guber freaked,” said one studio insider who asked not to be identified, speaking of Sony Pictures Chairman Peter Guber.

“They were unhappy with him going public--now his name is in play,” said another.

Studios typically release information about top executives through their own public relations department. In general, they attempt to avoid bringing the studio into controversies or fanning negative publicity.

Speculation of a high-level meeting in connection with the prostitution case arose Tuesday when top Sony and Columbia executives from Los Angeles and New York--including Guber, Chief Operating Officer Alan Levine and Columbia Executive Vice President Sidney Ganis--held an all-day session at the Bel-Air Hotel.

One source said the meeting was called suddenly and unexpectedly. But Ganis insisted it was strictly about “moving ahead on new technologies.”

Another development Wednesday that focused attention on Columbia was published reports that Nathanson was being replaced by former Warner Bros. executive Lisa Henson.

However, sources said that the appointment of Henson, who previously worked for Columbia Chairman Mark Canton at Warner Bros., has been discussed since late last year. Henson’s appointment as production president is expected to be made official by the end of the week.

Amid rumors that Nathanson may be forced to resign, studio sources indicate that he will be promoted and given new responsibilities.

Sony Pictures’ Culver City lot was abuzz with rumors about the scandal. “Everyone here is trying to figure out whether it’s real or not,” said an insider.

Several executives and producers on the lot were reluctant to discuss the matter for fear of repercussions. “I’ve been so paranoid about it, I’ve made a point of not talking--it’s too weird,” said a producer on the lot.

Times staff writer Nieson Himmel contributed to this story