Ex-Carolco Chief’s Tax Trial Goes to Jury

A federal jury in Los Angeles is scheduled to start deliberations today on whether former Carolco Pictures Chief Executive Peter Hoffman misrepresented his income and signed false returns to avoid taxes. Government prosecutors allege that Hoffman improperly tapped into more than $1 million in deferred compensation accumulated at Carolco, while his lawyers contend that the payments were loans he paid back. Among the revelations at Hoffman’s trial was acknowledgment by producer Andy Vajna, a former Carolco partner, that he loaned Hoffman $400,000 to pay for his defense. In addition, Hoffman testified that on the eve of the trial he paid taxes on $800,000 earned in the early 1990s that he is no longer under obligation to pay because of the time that has elapsed. His defense has contended the taxes weren’t paid because of a Carolco bookkeeping error. Hoffman’s case is considered important to government prosecutors because, sources say, they would like to pressure Hoffman into cooperating in a larger tax fraud investigation of Vajna and his former Carolco partner, producer Mario Kassar.