If there’s a Girls Gone Wild 2008 Spring Break Edition, Joe Francis won’t be closely involved. The mega-rich, mega-troubled founder of the Girls Gone Wild empire will likely remain in jail until April 29, since his trial for tax evasion charges has been postponed. The trial was original scheduled to begin today.
He has not been allowed bail in Nevada because he still faces six felony counts including prostitution, conspiracy and using minors in a sexual performance in 2003. And as if things couldn’t get worse for the millionaire who apparently feels a wee bit inconvenienced by the law, he is facing two charges of transporting contraband into a jail cell while he was locked up for 35 days in April on contempt charges.
The postponement in Francis’ trial was the result of a request by the “entrepreneur” to allow his accountants more time to sort out the mess that is his empire. Francis has been charged with a laundry list of charges including improperly deducting more than $20 million expenses from his 2002 and 2003 corporate tax returns and hiding millions more in revenue in offshore accounts (sometimes in the names of other people). It is not illegal to have offshore accounts but the revenue must be reported, which the feds allege Francis went to great lengths to avoid. If convicted, Francis faces up to ten years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
Francis’ attorney, David Houston, said that Francis’ indictment on tax evasion charges is a result of a complaint mounted by a disgruntled employee. I’m sure that he has excuses for the drugs and other felony charges, too. More angry ex-employees?
A reader once posted the following about me on metafilter.com:
Unless she takes her top off, I’m fairly well convinced she will fail in making me excited about tax codes.
Well, sorry to disappoint but I do have tantalizing tax news from the world of topless girls. Really. In addition to his other legal woes, “Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis added to his rap sheet earlier in the month when he was indicted by a federal grand jury in Reno, Nevada on tax evasion charges.
The Department of Justice has announced along with the Internal Revenue Service that indictments were served on Francis. The indictments allege that Francis’ companies, Mantra Films Inc. and Sands Media Inc., claimed more than $20 million in false deductions on the companies’ 2002 and 2003 corporate income tax returns. The indictment also charges that Francis used offshore bank accounts and entities to hide income from taxation.
It’s really important to note that there is no prohibition against having an offshore account or entity. However, the US takes the position that citizens may be taxed on their worldwide income, which means that concealing income for the purposes of evading taxation is a crime.
Francis has been ordered to appear May 22 before U.S. Magistrate Robert A. McQuaid. The charges could result in up to 10 years in prison and $500,000 in fines for the multimillionaire. If convicted, it wouldn’t be the only legal obstacle for Francis in the last month. He was just released from a Florida jail on a contempt charge and this week was charged with a misdemeanor sexual battery for allegedly groping an 18-year-old woman.
Life in the fast lane just took an interesting turn.
