LOS ANGELES — The founder of the “Girls Gone Wild” video series is scheduled to be arraigned Monday on federal tax evasion charges in downtown Los Angeles.

Joe Francis, 35, is accused of deducting more than $20 million in bogus business expenses on his companies’ corporate income tax returns for the years 2002 and 2003.

One of his companies is the Santa Monica-based Mantra Films Inc.

Prosecutors also allege Francis illegally transferred $15 million from an offshore bank account to a California brokerage account in the name of a Cayman Islands company under his control.

Other alleged illegal deductions include $3.78 million used to build a home in Mexico that was listed as a business expense, $10.4 million in bogus consulting services and a $500,000 phony insurance claim.

Francis was indicted last year on two counts of income tax evasion by a federal grand jury in Reno, Nev. In May, the case was transferred to Los Angeles.

If convicted, he faces a possible sentence of 10 years in federal prison and $500,000 in fines, although it is unlikely he would receive a punishment that severe.

Francis has made millions of dollars off the “Girls Gone Wild” videos, which generally show college-aged girls flashing their breasts and other body parts at bars, beaches and other young people hangouts, but the USC graduate is facing legal problems in other states as well.

He recently served 11 months in jail on tax-related charges.

In 2006, he was sentenced in Florida to probation and community service for violating a federal law that requires adult filmmakers to keep accurate paperwork proving the performers in their films are at least 18 years old, and in March he pleaded no contest to child abuse and prostitution charges.

Ashley Dupre, the call girl linked to former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, threatened to sue Francis claiming she was only 17 when she signed a contract to appear in one of his videos.

Francis released a video showing Dupre agreed to be filmed and identified herself as Amber Arpaio, but last week the real Amber Arpaio announced she would sue Dupre for using her lost driver’s license to appear in the video. She also is suing Francis.

Los Angeles, CA [Attorneys statement]– Robert Bernhoft and Robert Barnes, trial litigators for Joe Francis in Francis’ felony tax evasion case, will make a statement and field questions on Monday, July 21, after Francis’ arraignment.

Francis was indicted in April, 2007 after the former corporate accountant for Francis’ Mantra Films contacted the IRS and requested millions in bonuses to report Francis for accounting mistakes made during the accountant’s tenure at the company. Several of the returns at issue, now alleged to be false, were reviewed by the accountant, who is now attempting to profit from a controversial government bounty program that rewards people in the millions of dollars who identify tax errors in tax returns.

Attorney Bernhoft, who’s obtained acquittals in three of the most hotly-contested felony tax trials this decade, promises that the truth will reveal that the case against Francis is “about an accountant who thinks he should be rewarded for his own mistakes, mistakes that will cost Joe millions of dollars. The IRS says the accountant should get millions and Joe prison for mistakes the accountant made and never told Joe he made. That’s outrageous.”

Bernhoft and Barnes, both of Bernhoft Law with offices in Malibu, were the lead trial attorneys for Wesley Snipes during the actor’s January, 2008 tax fraud trial in Ocala, Florida, and obtained complete acquittals on all felony counts against Snipes.

Bernhoft notes parallels in the press coverage of Francis and that of Snipes.

“Many wrongly assumed Wes Snipes was guilty of the felony charges against him,” said Bernhoft. “When we raised various facts for Wes during his trial, the local press said we were crazy. The jury heard the same facts, and acquitted Wes of all felony charges.

“I challenge those in L.A. who presumed Joe’s guilt on these felony charges to stick around and look at the actual facts of Joe’s case. It will surprise and shock many.

“This case is about an extreme case of an accountant’s greed. This guy was looking to cash in. It’s that simple.”