Joe Francis, chief executive of the racy video producer Girls Gone Wild, has struck a plea deal with prosecutors in his tax evasion case and agreed to pay $249,705 in back taxes.
As part of the deal, Francis agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of filing false tax returns and one count of bribing two Nevada jail employees with $5,000 worth of goods in exchange for food. Francis will receive credit under the deal for the 301 days he has already served in jail between June 2007 and March 2008. He had been accused of leaving out nearly $563,000 in interest income on his 2003 tax return and improperly deducting over $20 million worth of items such as a Porsche.
Francis has blamed his accountant for his many of tax troubles (see
The trial has been delayed numerous times, and recently Barrett turned over hundreds of e-mails to prosecutors. The trial was set to start in a few weeks time.
After a hearing Wednesday before Judge S. James Otero, Francis said he wanted to focus on growing his business. Im very pleased, if the judge accepts our agreement with the government, all felony tax charges will be dismissed and I will not spend any more time in jail, he said. Otero has set sentencing for Nov. 6.
