Best-Selling Author Zane Tops the List of Maryland's Tax Cheats

Kristina Laferne Roberts, 47, who goes by "Zane," is a Prince George's County author that has written many erotica novels that have sold millions of copies. She also owes the IRS about $541,000, and has been chased by creditors for years. In 2010, the Treasury Department placed a tax lien on her house in Upper Marlboro, and in 2009 she almost faced foreclosure after falling behind on her mortgage payment before settling with a lender.

Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot announced last week that she top's the individual "tax cheat" list due to the $341,000 Roberts owes the state of Maryland. The state made her name public along with 24 other people and 25 businesses in order to try to get them to start paying. Christine Feldmann, a state comptroller's office spokesperson said of this matter, "Publishing her name on the Web is one of the last steps we take in a very long process."

Franchot said that the list is a part of the "Caught in the Web" program, that works to try to get tax evaders to pay up what they owe. He said that this year's list owes about $15 million in unpaid taxes, penalties and interest and for at least six months have failed to pay or try to set up a settlement plan. Of these people Franchot says, "We're pretty confident that most of these people had the resources or have the resources right now to pay but they just choose to lawyer up and avoid their responsibilities."

Zane has authored over 30 books including, "Zane's: The Sex Chronicles: Shattering the Myth,"and "Zane's Addicted," and her Facebook page showed no signs of worry about her financial troubles. The day of Franchot's conference she posted, "Whew! Finished my novel, now I get to take the rest of the day off but I have to go right back to editing another book coming out this year tomorrow. It never ends but I love it. LOL." This news leaves many people are wondering how a well-known author and and the creator of two Cinemax series can end up owing so much money to the IRS.

Zane is best known for her novel Addicted. In 1997, Zane began writing erotic stories to pass the time after her children went to bed. She was living in North Carolina and working as a sales representative. The stories developed a following on the Internet. She self-published The Sex Chronicles before landing a deal with Simon & Schuster. Her work was the basis for the Cinemax program Zane's Sex Chronicles. Her latest project, Zane's The Jump Off, premiered March 29, 2013 on Cinemax. Zane is the publisher of Strebor Books/ATRIA Books/Simon and Schuster where she publishes 36-60 books a year by other authors. Her first feature film, Addicted, will be released by Lionsgate on September 5, 2014.

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