Los Angeles White Collar Crime and Girls Gone Wild

Joe Francis, creator of the popular adult entertainment franchise “Girls Gone Wild,” pleaded guilty in a Los Angeles Court on Wednesday to falsifying his income taxes and bribing two jail workers. As part of a plea agreement, Francis is to be sentenced to a year of supervised release, and ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution and $10,000 in fines. According to court documents, Francis would be given credit for the 301 days he has already spent in jail. The adult video entrepreneur admitted to a Los Angeles judge that he underreported his corporate taxable income by as much as $563,000, while also acknowledging having given two Washoe County, Nevada jail workers as much as $5,000 in goods in exchange for food while he was in prison from June 2007 to March 2008. The plea agreement is still subject to a judge’s approval and sentencing was scheduled for November 16^th of this year. 

Not all crimes committed and prosecuted in Los Angeles are violent or physical in nature. Los Angeles white collar crime got its name from the difference in the law enforcement agents who make their various arrests: violent criminals are generally arrested by uniformed policemen dressed in blue, while non-violent criminals accused of such crimes as fraud or embezzlement were historically apprehended by state or federal agents often dressed in white button-down shirts and ties. Los Angeles white collar crimes such as falsifying tax documents, embezzlement, investment fraud, insider trading, bribery, extortion, identity theft, and computer fraud are all crimes that can be prosecuted in Los Angeles by local prosecutors, the district attorney’s office or the federal government and, if convicted, could easily land you in jail for several years. As with crimes of a more physical or violent nature, Los Angeles white collar crimes are typically classified as either misdemeanor or felony criminal offenses. The distinction between misdemeanor or felony generally depends upon the different facts of each case and the amount of goods or dollars in question. Unlike violent crimes, the evidence for white collar crimes is not blood, weapons or DNA, but vast amounts of paper documents, paperless computer files or the testimony of witnesses. 

If you have been accused of a Los Angeles white collar crime, call the attorneys at Stephen G. Rodriguez & Associates today. Our attorneys have decades of combined experience in defending against criminal charges of all types. Don’t let your good name and reputation be ruined. Call today to begin preparing your defense at (213) 223-2173.