Criminal Justice
Stanford Law Grad Can’t Cover Debt in Escort Service Plea Deal
Posted Jun 16, 2009, 07:09 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The dwindling Internet wealth of the founder of Ask.com is having an effect on the plea deal of his estranged spouse, a Stanford law graduate accused of failing to pay taxes on money she made running an escort service.
In January, law graduate Cristina Warthen pleaded guilty to tax evasion and agreed to pay the government $313,000—the total she was accused of making while running an escort service and working as a prostitute under the name Brazil.
But Warthen’s lawyers said in papers filed last week that she will only get $230,000 from her husband David Warthen in divorce proceedings, making it impossible for her to pay the full debt to the government, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Originally Cristina Warthen had expected to get $350,000 in the divorce, but the stock market drop has left David Warthen "a mere shadow of his former financial self,” court papers say.
Comments not appearing after a few seconds? Try emptying your cache ("Temporary Internet files"), making sure Javascript is activated, and refresh this page.