First, it was the girls; now, the IRS has gone wild over Joe Francis.
The naughty-video purveyor, already behind bars in Panama City, Florida, on a contempt-of-court citation, was charged with tax evasion Wednesday for, among other infractions, allegedly filtering millions of dollars in Girls Gone Wild earnings into offshore bank accounts.
According to the indictment, issued by a federal grand jury in Reno, Nevada, Francis deducted more than $20 million in false business expenses on his 2002 and 2003 corporate income tax returns; stashed revenue earned during that period in offshore bank accounts and entities supposedly owned by other people; and transferred more than $15 million from one of his offshore accounts to a brokerage account in Irvine, California, held in the name of a Cayman Islands company controlled by Francis himself.
The 34-year-old entrepreneur, whose Mantra Films Inc. and Sands Media Inc. produce and distribute the DVDs and videos that make up the Girls Gone Wild empire, is facing up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $500,000 is convicted on all charges.
A hearing has been scheduled for May 22 in Reno.
Francis will most likely be out of the Panama City pokey by then. He was picked up by U.S. marshals Tuesday morning upon his arrival at Panama City Airport, where he was supposedly on his way to surrender to authorities. A federal judge cited Francis for contempt last week for his impromptu outburst during settlement negotiations in the federal exploitation lawsuit brought against him by seven former underage girls-gone-wild.
The king of late-night infomercials was sentenced to community service and $1.6 million in out-of-pocket fines after pleading guilty in federal court in Florida in December to failing to properly monitor the ages of the participants in his videos after a 2003 photo shoot captured two pairs of 17-year-old bare breasts. Mantra was hit with an additional $2.1 million fine for failing at the game of checking IDs.
Francis, on behalf of his racy domain, pleaded guilty to similar charges in January, as well, in Los Angeles' U.S. District Court. For his West Coast infraction he received two years probation and was ordered to shell out $500,000 in fines.
But while he's managed to maintain his freedom (until Tuesday, that is), Francis is still looking at a possible 40-year prison term in Florida state court for two felony counts apiece of using underage performers, conspiracy and prostitution.
Francis caught a break, however, when the judge ruled that there was not enough evidence to also try him for racketeering and even more counts of prostitution for allegedly suggesting ways in which the girls could go even more wild.