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Donald Trump’s Pick to Run the IRS Was the Attorney for “Girls Gone Wild” Creator

15-2-2018 < Blacklisted News 118 378 words
 
President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the IRS, Charles Rettig, is a longtime tax lawyer who has defended people and companies against the agency in court. Rettig would replace John Koskinen, who stepped down as commissioner at the end of his term in November. If confirmed by the Senate, Rettig would lead the agency as it begins to implement a sweeping $6 trillion tax overhaul, maneuvering hundreds of pages of changes made to the tax code amid a shrinking staff and budget.

Between 2010 and 2011, Rettig served as chair of the IRS Advisory Council, which advises the IRS on different tax administration issues and makes policy recommendations. But the bulk of his experience has been in representing clients before the IRS and the Tax Division of the Department of Justice. He’s been with the Beverly Hills-based firm Hochman Salkin Rettig Toscher & Perez for over 35 years.


Charles Rettig (PRNewsfoto/UCLA Extension)



Charles Rettig speaks at the UCLA Extension 33rd Annual Tax Controversy Institute Conference on Oct. 24, 2017 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Photo: PRNewsfoto/UCLA Extension



But his most famous client may just be “Girls Gone Wild” creator Joe Francis, whose tax evasion case was just one of many legal woes.

Francis, who made his fortune selling videos of topless young women, was indicted in April 2007 on two counts of tax evasion. The indictment charged that his companies claimed more than $20 million in false deductions on their 2002 and 2003 corporate income tax returns, the Justice Department said in a statement. It also charged that he used offshore bank accounts to conceal the income he had earned during the time. Francis was charged with sexual battery that same month, for reportedly groping an 18-year-old young woman at a party in Hollywood.


“Mr. Francis … has long been surrounded by professional financial and tax advisers while primarily focusing on building and expanding the ‘Girls Gone Wild’ branded empire throughout the world,” Rettig said in an email to the Associated Press at the time. “The allegations set forth in the tax-related indictment will be fairly and appropriately resolved through the judicial process,” Rettig said. “If a tax liability is later determined to exist, it will be paid.”


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