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Judge OKs plea deal from 'Girls Gone Wild' founder

The Associated Press

Joe Francis, a soft-porn mogul who filmed and marketed videos of young women, initially was accused of taking $20 million in fraudulent tax deductions earlier this decade.

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By The Associated Press

Published: November 6, 2009

LOS ANGELES - A judge sentenced "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis on Friday to time served and a year of probation for filing false income tax returns.

U.S. District Judge S. James Otero accepted the terms of a plea deal between Francis and prosecutors, who struck the deal after learning on the eve of trial that a key witness had lied to them.

Francis, a soft-porn mogul who filmed and marketed videos of young women, initially was accused of taking $20 million in fraudulent tax deductions earlier this decade.

Under the deal, Francis entered guilty pleas in September to two misdemeanor counts of filing false tax returns and one count of bribing Nevada jail workers in exchange for food.

He acknowledged omitting more than $500,000 in interest income on his 2003 tax return and said he gave more than $5,000 in goods to a pair of Nevada jail workers.

The judge gave Francis credit for 301 days already served in jail. The plea deal also required him to pay $250,000 in restitution.

Francis was indicted by a federal grand jury on tax evasion charges in 2007.

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