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You call this a 'bargain'?

September 28, 2009

Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis negotiated a plea deal that would limit his jail time on tax charges to time already served. Jack Townsend says that the sentencing judge may give him more time than he bargained for:

From a tax perspective, the interesting feature of the plea is the downgrading of the offense of conviction from the charged felony tax evasion to the § 7207 misdemeanor offenses. Most practitioners have argued for, pleaded, cajoled, etc. (but not bribed) tax prosecutors for such a downgrade without any success. (For DOJ’s policies on this, see here.) I imagine that DOJ Tax would have declined to do that here except for the bribery plea. My gut tells me that, in terms of sentencing, the sentencing judge is likely to focus more on the bribery plea and perhaps the criminal history; the maximum 4 year incarceration for the combined pleas will give the judge ample room to do justice.

So if Mr. Francis gets some additional time off, don't be too surprised.

Tags: Federal Tax Crimes blog.Girls Gone Wild.Joe Francis.

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