CALIFORNIA—On June 18, Nathan J. Hochman, the Los Angeles County District Attorney, held a press conference announcing his office filed 12 felony counts of tax evasion against comedian, writer, and actor Carlos Mencia, 58, for failing to pay taxes and committing tax fraud.
Mencia was born in Honduras as Ned Arnel Holness, and immigrated to the United States as a child, and grew up in East Los Angeles. He has 17 siblings. He is best known for the show “Mind of Mencia,” which he hosted on Comedy Central that aired from July 2025 to July 2008. Between 2001 and 2011, he released multiple comedy albums and DVDs of comedy specials he performed. At current, he hosts a podcast, “Between the Laughs.”
He was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department around 7 a.m. on June 18 at his home. Those charges include six counts of failing to pay personal income tax with intent to evade, and six counts of failing to pay corporate income tax with intent to evade.
Charges span from 2019 to 2024, where Mencia is accused of failing to pay approximately $8.7 million in personal income tax to the state of California which is a violation of section 19706 of the Revenue and Taxation Code and failing to pay corporate taxes which are violaitons of sections 17001 and 23001 of the same code. A total of $3.3 million is personal income tax, and $5.4 million is corporate tax for his business, Nedlos Entertainment Inc., for which he is the owner and chief executive officer.
Mencia is listed on the California Franchise Tax Board’s list of the top 500 tax delinquents. The board also sent him 78 notifications informing him that he did not pay his taxes.
He is in custody, and pleaded not guilty, and his bail has been reduced to $50,000 from $250,000. An arraignment hearing has been scheduled for June 22 in the felony arraignment court, Dept. 100, of the Van Nuys Courthouse, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for August 14 in Department 122 of the same courthouse.
If convicted on all counts, he faces up to 11 years and 4 months in a California state prison and will be required to pay his back taxes, along with interest and possible civil penalties.
This is the first case brought by the Business Tax Fraud Unit, established in May 2026 to prosecute tax-related offenses. Mencia faced legal trouble with the Internal Revenue Service in 2021, where he claimed that he and his wife, Amy, owed over $1.2 million in back taxes.
