Will the Supreme Court Save This Movie Producer/Lawyer From 15 Years in Prison?
A bid to overturn a fraud conviction for Peter Hoffman, a lawyer turned movie producer, has picked up support from 14 retired federal judges, nine criminal law professors and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Hoffman once ran a company called Carolco Pictures, which made some successful films. In the 1990s, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false tax return. Then, in 2014, federal prosecutors charged Hoffman with wire fraud for submitting false expense reports on a Louisiana mansion being transformed into a postproduction facility. Hoffman did so to get $1.13 million in movie tax credits issued by Louisiana, according to the Reporter‘s Eriq Gardner.
The trial court sentenced him to 60 months of probation, an unprecedented departure from federal sentencing guidelines that recommended a range of 168 to 210 months in prison. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the trial court to take another look, possibly leading to a harsher sentence.
Hoffman has petitioned the court for a review.
Read the Hollywood Reporter article.
