Joe Francis (Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES -- "Girls Gone Wild" creator Joe Francis was sentenced to time served Friday for filing false tax returns and bribing Nevada jail workers in exchange for food.
Francis agreed to pay $250,000 in restitution, $10,000 in fines and receive credit for the 301 days he spent in a Nevada jail as part of his Sept. 23 guilty plea. He will also receive a year of supervised release, according to court papers.
At the plea hearing in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles, Francis admitted he under-reported nearly $563,000 on his corporate tax returns.
The adult-video entrepreneur also acknowledged giving more than $5,000 in goods to a pair of Washoe County, Nev., jail workers in exchange for food while he was being held there from June 2007 to March 2008.
The guilty pleas came just weeks before Francis' much-delayed trial was set to begin. If the case had gone to trial, Francis faced a maximum of 10 years in federal prison.
The 36-year-old USC graduate initially pleaded not guilty in 2007 to charges of unlawfully deducting more than $20 million in bogus business expenses on his 2002 and 2003 returns. The case was originally filed in federal court in Reno but later transferred to the Los Angeles courtroom of U.S. District Judge S. James Otero.
Francis is also being sued in state court by an interior designer who alleges he was threatened by the "Girls Gone Wild" founder for agreeing to cooperate in the federal tax evasion probe.
Earlier this week, Francis countersued, claiming Ralph T. Haenisch and his company, Trip Haenisch & Associates Inc., charged Francis in some cases 10 times higher for improvements at the videomaker's Bel Air home than the designer's actual costs. The suit also maintains Haenisch did not have a contractor's license and that Francis is therefore owed a complete refund under state law.
Last month, Los Angeles County prosecutors declined to file charges against Francis, Brody Jenner or Jenner's Playmate girlfriend in connection with an Aug. 28 run-in at a West Hollywood nightclub.
Francis agreed to pay $250,000 in restitution, $10,000 in fines and receive credit for the 301 days he spent in a Nevada jail as part of his Sept. 23 guilty plea. He will also receive a year of supervised release, according to court papers.
At the plea hearing in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles, Francis admitted he under-reported nearly $563,000 on his corporate tax returns.
The adult-video entrepreneur also acknowledged giving more than $5,000 in goods to a pair of Washoe County, Nev., jail workers in exchange for food while he was being held there from June 2007 to March 2008.
The guilty pleas came just weeks before Francis' much-delayed trial was set to begin. If the case had gone to trial, Francis faced a maximum of 10 years in federal prison.
The 36-year-old USC graduate initially pleaded not guilty in 2007 to charges of unlawfully deducting more than $20 million in bogus business expenses on his 2002 and 2003 returns. The case was originally filed in federal court in Reno but later transferred to the Los Angeles courtroom of U.S. District Judge S. James Otero.
Francis is also being sued in state court by an interior designer who alleges he was threatened by the "Girls Gone Wild" founder for agreeing to cooperate in the federal tax evasion probe.
Earlier this week, Francis countersued, claiming Ralph T. Haenisch and his company, Trip Haenisch & Associates Inc., charged Francis in some cases 10 times higher for improvements at the videomaker's Bel Air home than the designer's actual costs. The suit also maintains Haenisch did not have a contractor's license and that Francis is therefore owed a complete refund under state law.
Last month, Los Angeles County prosecutors declined to file charges against Francis, Brody Jenner or Jenner's Playmate girlfriend in connection with an Aug. 28 run-in at a West Hollywood nightclub.
