Have you ever been watching TV late at night when the Girls Gone Wild informercials come on? This smarmy young fellow is the "mastermind" behind all that, and heβs been a very,VERY bad boy!
According to the Smoking Gun, this is what heβs looking at right now:
Joe Francis, the "Girls Gone Wild" founder, was indicted today on federal tax evasion charges for illegally deducting more than $20 million in phony business expenses from his 2002 and 2003 corporate tax returns. According to a two count indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Reno, Nevada, Francis, 34, sought to conceal income through the use of offshore companies and nominees. At one point, he transferred $15 million from one offshore bank account to a California brokerage account in the name of a Cayman Islands corporation he controlled. Below youβll find a copy of the indictment filed against Francis, who is pictured in the mug shot at right. If convicted of the federal charges, he faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and fines of up to $500,000. Francis was arrested yesterday on an unrelated federal warrant stemming from a civil lawsuit brought against him by seven underage women who were filmed by "Girls Gone Wild" cameramen in Florida in 2003. The contempt citation was issued after Francis rebuffed a judgeβs order to settle the case with the aid of a mediator.
Did you read that? A maximum of ten years in prison. Scary stuff!
Via Federal Rap for "Girls Gone ...
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