Legal News

Posted: Tue., Feb. 3, 2009, 8:42am PT

'Girls Gone Wild's' Francis arrested

Video mogul showed up late to court hearing

"Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis was arrested in Los Angeles after he showed up five hours late for a court hearing in his tax evasion case.

When the adult-video entrepreneur finally appeared in court Monday afternoon, he told the judge he was suffering from the flu. Francis' attorney Melissa Weinberger says U.S. marshals then handcuffed Francis and took him away.

Francis is accused of claiming more than $20 million in bogus business expenses on his corporate tax returns, including $3.8 million for a home in Mexico and $10.4 million in phony consulting services. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of federal tax evasion.

The hearing was to consider a request from his tax attorneys to recuse themselves.

Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

HERE ARE OTHER ARTICLES RECOMMENDED FOR YOU…
    Newstogram
    SharePrint VarietyVariety RSS feedsBookmark

    Get Variety:

    Variety AppsVariety DigitalNewsletters

    Variety Luxury Real Estate