Franncis tried to bully Ms. Nicole by suing her for her statements after he brutally attacked her.  Even though he may not have committed all of the acts Ms. Nicole thought he did based upon what witness’s told her, he committed a lot of them.  The Court ruled that Joe Francis is a public figure and that her statements contribute to the public discussion on his treatment of young women.

Once the someone is a public figure in order for them to be able to file a lawsuit for defamation, they have to prove that the speaker said the statements with knowledge they were false or there with a reckless disregard for the truth.

The Court found that the evidence submitted by Joe Francis’s legal team FAILED to meet that burden and ordered the case dismissed.  The Court ordered attorney fees  which will be close to $80,000.00.  A copy of the opinion and the order is here:  nicoleslapporder_release001

It is great to work with great lawyers to defeat Joe Francis and save victims of his physical attacks as well as preserve one’s right to free speech.

Here is the order:  francis.order.deny.taxrelief

The agent in great deal outlines how Joe Francis was moving money around.

Here is the agent’s declaration:  irsagentdeclaration

In 2000, Rothwell Limited, a Cayman Islands corporation (“Rothwell Ltd.”), was formed. In July 2001, a Morgan Stanley investment brokerage account was opened on behalf of Rothwell Ltd. (“Rothwell Account”). 

Colin Chaffee is listed as the administrator and/or signatory of the Rothwell Account. However, Mr. Francis has admitted that he owns 100% of the interest income generated by the Rothwell Account.  On October 4, 2002, Joe Francis established Blue Horse Trading, LLC (“Blue HorseTrading”). Joe Francis is the sole member of Blue Horse. On November 5, 2002, Blue Horse purchased a house in Los Angeles, which was then leased to Mantra Films beginning December 2002.   This is Joe’ s Bel Air home which he lives at.  Who leases their own home to their business?  This has tax scam written all over it.

Here is the background on how he got to this point:

Criminal Case

On April 11, 2007, a federal grand jury indicted Joe Francis on two counts of felony tax evasion in connection with his 2002 and 2003 personal tax returns and those of Mantra Films and Sands Media. On September 23, 2009, in the case entitled United States v. Joseph R. Francis, CR 08-494 (U.S.D.C., D.C. Ca.), the parties entered into binding plea agreement (“Plea Agreement”). Pursuant to the Plea Agreement, the government dismissed its felony tax evasion charges, and Joe pled guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts for failing to report interest income on the Rothwell Account in 2003. The agreement also provided for a time-served sentence, a restitution payment of $249,705, a $10,000 fine, and a special assessment fee of $150. On November 6,2009, the Court accepted the Plea Agreement and the terms contained therein.

The Government’s Jeopardy Assessments and Levies

On November 6, 2009, the same date the Court entered the Plea Agreement,

The IRS served Jeopardy Assessments on Joe in an amount that exceeds $33 million. The total assessment amount is for tax years 2001, 2002, and 2003.  The IRS also levied the Rothwell Account, which froze over $20 million, and a UBS Financial Services account (“UBS Account”), which froze over $2.4 million.

The total in taxes, penalties, and interest, the IRS determined that Joe Francis’s tax deficiencies to be (1) $17,658,359 for tax year 2001, (2) $11,262,006.12 for tax year 2002, and (3) $4,932,405.97 for tax year 2003.

The District Court, Judge Gary Klausner, a Bush appointee, found that following facts:

(1) Joe’s use of Blue Horse Trading to purchase his Los Angeles residence;

(2) Most of Joe’s assets residing in various corporate entities;

(3) an existing $2.8 million civil judgment; (that’s from Steve Wynn from the Wynn)

against Joe; and

(4) felony indictments, albeit dismissed under a plea agreement, that laid out a complex scheme to evade payment of tax.

With all of this going on, Joe still found time to go to Voyeur last week.  See the video below of him getting rejected while they let my client Jayde Nicole in. 

http://x17video.com/celebrity_video/joe_francis/jayde_nicole_and_joe_francis_c.php

Now if Joe can survive the $22.4M haircut, I will be very surprised.

He has not done well in Federal Court. He lost both his TRO and Preliminary Injuction requests.  Those were DENIED and that case dismissed.  He now has lost his summary review of the emergency or jeopardy assessment made by the IRS.  He must now prevail in tax court as the interest and penalties keep mounting.

As always, I will keep you posted of any further developments. 

On April 11, 2008, our client MD Synergy, LLC was hit with a demand for arbitration with JAMS (Private Judges).  On May 9, 2008, our client was then ambushed with a complaint for breach of employment agreement.  Faced with a multiplicity of litigation, the firm took swift action and filed a cross complaint on both matters in the Los Angeles Superior Court trying to procedurally limit the plaintiff.  On January 8, 2009, the Court ordered by stipulation all matters to JAMS for adjudication.

 The claim and lawsuit arose from an asset purchase agreement executed by MD Synergy, LLC from a company that was controlled by Garrett Erskine, who is the current CEO of Alteer Corporation.  Subsequent to the purchase, MD Synergy, LLC employed Garrett Erskine then terminated him months after the purchase.  Without any demand, he filed a claim for millions of dollars in fraudulent amounts he alleged were due under the asset purchase agreement’s complex earn out formula and his severance pay once he was terminated. He contended there was an off the books WIP (work in progress) that was not accounted for in the written sales documents.  MD Synergy contended these receivables were recognized at the time of the sale and were deemed to be phantom or fictitious.

These claims and the lawsuit were in fact completely baseless except for the severance of the former employee which was withheld as an offset against any future damages.  MD Synergy, LLC is a peaceful company that is in the business of medical billing.   It likes to avoid litigation.  To avoid a costly trial and stress on the client, a $100,000.00 998 Offer was made on July 15, 2009 to Garrett Erskine.  A 998 Offer shifts the expert witness fees and attorney’s fees (if there is an agreement) to the party who does not beat the 998 Offer at trial.  It is an important tool in forcing a settlement.

However, Mr. Erskine, through his avarice, insisted on millions of dollars.  He believed he could use the legal system to act as a quasi blackmail device to force a higher settlement.  Once resolution was ruled out, a full marshalling of all resources occurred and arbitration took place on August 4, 5, and 6^th in the beautiful private courts of JAMS.  This is luxury law at its finest.  A side of the law that only fortunate attorneys and litigants see with patient judges, five star facilities, and detailed decisions at both parties shared expense.

On September 1, 2009, an interim award was issued finding personal liability against Mr. Erskine both for fraudulent concealment and alter ego as requested by the firm.   A series of further briefings took place on three issues:  the disgorgement of the 500,000 shares given to Mr. Erskine pursuant to the asset purchase agreement, punitive damages, and alter ego liability.

Further oral argument was heard on October 21, 2009.  Further briefing was taken and completed by November 30, 2009 from all sides.  Today is JUDGMENT DAY, coincidently, the last day of the year.   What a way to end what was a truly remarkable year for a truly remarkable group of businesses, people, and friends, who all comprise the client base of this firm.

The Judge found that the defendant in this matter who filed a cross complaint was entitled to an award of $800,000.00 giving it all of its attorney’s fees, expert witness fees, prejudgment interest, compensatory damages, and punitive damages.  In addition, the Judge ordered the disgorgement of the 500,000 shares issued to Mr. Erskine by MD Synergy, LLC due to this breaches of the asset purchase agreement.  Incredibly, Mr. Erskine could have settled this matter for $100,000.00 in his favor but his greed and naïveté about his required burden of proof and the credible and convincing testimony of the MD Synergy CEO and its outside accountant proved to be his downfall.

The firm is preparing a EWO (Earnings Withholding Order) and a petition to confirm the award forthwith.  The firm would like to thank Nicholas Bravo, Esq. for putting the trial notebooks together.  Justin Ibrahim for his handling of the logistics each day, in the downtown maze. Tina M. Lazaroff, CPA, Partner, Solomon Ross Grey & Company, LLP for her competent and accurate testimony and calculations.  Balbir Tuli for his trial support and daily attendance.  Randhir Tuli for his outstanding case preparation, digestion of the asset purchase agreement, simply flawless trial testimony, and patience(98% of the time with what was a complex legal process.    Civil litigation defendants, when faced with millions of dollars of claims, can be just as stressful as criminal cases.

This attached order of dismissal puts an end to what was an embarassing blunder. You can see it here: francis.dismissalorder .

Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild sued the Internal Revenue service, lost an attempt to obtain a restraining order, then lost his bid for a preliminary injuncition as you saw in previous posts. See attached link:  http://ronaldrichards.com/index.php/2009/blog/court-denies-joe-franciss-bid-to-enjoin-the-irs-from-its-collection-efforts-against-him
Joe Francis was recently just awarded by Celebrity Website Gawker the Deuche of the Decade Award.

Joe was quoted as saying this regarding why he started Girls Gone Wild. 

“More than anything else, Girls Gone Wild started off as a product of my sexual fantasy.” Meaning? “Girls look really good from age eighteen to twenty-five,” he says. “It’s just a fact that that’s the best time for girls. Afterward, things start to happen — bad things.”

And you wonder why I expose him and sue him continuously.

Gawker went to summarize his achievements:

And he quickly became a terribly rich and successful douche—which may have given him a leg up on the douches in the poll who are kings of the world only in their own shriveled minds and blackened hearts.

But this coked-out amoral direct-marketer (and rapist!) is basically a zillionaire, various tax liens against him notwithstanding.

Kidnapping and non-penetrative dildo-menacing were not enough to stop the man who declared that he’d been “anally raped over and over by the media” shortly after literally assaulting a female reporter assigned to profile him. He palled around with our more tragic and douchey celebs.

We had a shot at putting him in jail for good, but the hundreds of hours of underaged porn from his homes and plane was seized without proper search warrants.

 Problems—both legal and civil—actually piled up for Francis as the decade went on, but the fact remains that he continues to be rich, famous, douchey, and ever more loathsome by the hour.

Joe Francis! You have made the world a worse place! You have assaulted and raped! You have degraded thousands! You are a terrible human being! You are Gawker’s Douche of the Decade!  (Gawker, December 21, 2009)

After numerous felony prosecutions against him, countless civil suits against him by women including Jayde Nicole, my client, his own kidnappping, and now what will certainly be another round of legal agony with the IRS Civil enforcement section, Deuche of the Decade award, and enmormous legal expenses, have we seen the end?  One thing is for sure, he will not be sitting courtside with myself next to Jack Nicholson (not kidding, I will be there on the wood between Jack and the Visitor’s bench) See link to story here:  http://diaryofahollywoodstreetking.com/the-la-lakers-xmas-special-with-ronald-richards/  One thing is for sure, Joe Francis will be no where near this attorney or his super vip guest that arranged for the seats.  He loathes Joe more than anyone so for my client’s protection, I will keep the two of them away from each other.  However, Joe doesn’t have a courtside pass even if someone did donate a ticket.  Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah to all!  Have a great day!  

Sincerely, Ronald Richards

Click her to read the order:   francis.order.deny.prelim. 

I hope you enjoy your weekend as this order was the one I was waiting for today at Court.