WebCPA reports that Joe Francis, the founder of Girls Gone Wild, has been released from jail following his conviction for filing false tax returns.
But Francis still claims that he was set up by his former CPA:
Francis claims that his CPA, former Mantra Films CFO Michael Barrett, conspired with two others to embezzle millions of dollars from the company and then contacted the tax authorities to cover his tracks as well as win a whistleblower award from the IRS.
Although CPA tax preparers are generally more competent than unenrolled tax preparers, the more sophisticated and larger fraud cases are almost universally perpetrated by CPAs and tax attorneys.
Here’s more from Mr. Francis:
I have asserted my innocence on the felony charges against me in this matter for two years. I have admitted that I should have and could have done more to reevaluate one of the tax positions that my former CFO assisted me in taking. I accept responsibility for that. I trusted people who turned out to be crooks. It is unfortunate that the IRS and the Department of Justice were duped into squandering so much energy, and more importantly, so much taxpayer money, on coming after me, based on absurd and false accusations by a person who has since confessed to lying and committing crimes against me.
Now can we finally leave Mr. Francis alone. He’s got a backlog of coeds foaming at the bit for his moral instruction.
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1 Girls Gone Wild Founder Joe Francis Spanked with $34 Million Tax Lien // Nov 20, 2009 at 9:50 am
[...] IRS Whistleblower Set Me Up Says Girls Gone Wild Founder Joe Francis [...]
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