Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis faces felony tax evasion charges. This morning he was supposed to appear in Federal Court in downtown Los Angeles at 8:30a.m. He didn’t show up. After a phone call to his home wasn’t answered, a bench warrant was issued.
Mr. Francis finally appeared at 1:30p.m. It’s likely that Judge S. James Otero wasn’t thrilled with Mr. Francis’ excuse of having the flu. Mr. Francis was taken away by the US Marshal’s Service. While his defense attorney pledged to try to have him released, there’s no word on whether she was successful.
Mr. Francis is accused of improperly deducting $20 million from his corporate tax returns. Today’s hearing was so that his defense attorneys could step down because of “strategic differences of opinion.”
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