tonight on "nightline," tax racket? their ads are everywhere, promising desperate taxpayers relief from troubles with the irs, but now tax masters is accused of pulling a fast one of its clients are they selling lies? tonight, brian ross investigates. the verdict. it has been a wrenching drama. friends went to jail for it. or testified against him. an ex-girlfriend even shared what went on in their bedroom in court. today, a jury convicts barry bonds, the greatest home run hitter in baseball history. now a felon. and, reality 101. everything you ever wanted to know about being a reality show star but maybe, for good reason, were afraid to ask.

we will take you to the first ever reality tv convention. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden, and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," april 13th, 2011. >> good evening. an early happy tax day, everybody. that's sarcasm, of course, because despite the recent efforts of the irs to be more customer friendly, it's hard to fine anyone who really enjoyed their last audit the complications of paying your national dues have spawned a cottage industry of sorts. some make promises, but all too often add another layer of misery. tonight, brian ross investigates one firm you may know from tv. >> reporter: in a kitchen in suburban minneapolis, charlene lee, the mother of two young children, learned she was going to owe more to the irs than she could pay, $42,000, after the

sale of some family property. >> i thought, oh, my goodness, i'm going to owe this money to the irs. they're going to take my house, i can't handle this by myself, because i never had to do that. >> i'm patrick cox. >> reporter: charlene thought she found her answer on cnn. >> we'll solve your tax problems. >> reporter: the commercials featuring patrick cox of tax masters saturate the cable news channels. >> our former irs agents have helped many good people just like you. >> reporter: but left out of the commercials is one key fact. that the company is under active investigation for deceptive practices in at least two states. >> they're making outrageous promises, false promises, deception, lies and they're capitalizing on this bad economy and it's really unfortunate to take advantage of people who are already down on their luck. >> reporter: even so, the advertising campaign continues. >> don't wait any longer.

call right now to get started today. >> reporter: helping tax masters, operating in houston, recruit thousands of new customers and bring in millions of dollars. and its made cox, once a small-time certified public accountant, a wealthy man, seen here outside the houston mansion he bought four years ago. in fact, the tax masters commercials are so prominent and prevalent, they've become the subject of widespread parody. >> i know what this is about. i do. >> reporter: but there is nothing funny for charlene lee, about her dealings with tax masters. after paying a big up-front fee, she says tax masters promised they could get her debt to the irs down to only pennies on the dollar. >> they told me, of course, not only can we help you with the payment plan but we can probably get it down to 80%, 90%, that's what we do. and we handle cases like yours all of the time. >> reporter: so that was great news. >> amazing news. and all i had to do was give them a credit card right now and

they were going to start someone on it immediately. >> reporter: but after charging can $4,800 on her credit card, charlene says tax masters efforts to get her tax bill reduced failed completely. in the meantime, the irs tacked on thousands of dollars more in penalties and interest. >> i owe the original amount and now i owe penalties and now my credit is ruined. which all could have been avoided if i would have just called the irs myself. >> reporter: now you have to pay penalties in addition to the $42,000. >> yes. isn't that wonderful? >> reporter: and it turns out there are hundreds of tax master customers who have filed similar complaints with the attorneys general in minnesota. >> when you call, you are just talking to a salesperson who is trying to get you to sign up. >> reporter: on tax masters own website, the advertisement for so-called tax consultants last year was one looking for talented closers. preview tax knowledge not

required. the company has sense changed the language. >> if you have to lie to a client to get money, you do it. >> reporter: until he was fired last year, he says for asking too many questions, they say for not performing well, lloyd lee headed the tax preparation unit at tax masters, where, he says, it was all about sales with nowhere near enough staff to do the actual tax work. >> they were 18 months behind in the process because you had all of this work coming in and not enough people to do it. and i never understood why they wouldn't. >> reporter: now you do. >> now i do. >> reporter: and what's that? >> greed. get as much in as you can and don't worry about the consequences. >> reporter: lee, who says he got the backlog down to four to six months and now has his own tax business, says there's no doubt his former boss cox knows exactly what he is doing, making promises that cannot be met. he's selling the public a bill of goods here. >> bad bill of goods.

>> you're not paying the irs any money at all. >> reporter: and tapes of act chum tax master customer phone calls reveal what officials call the deceit, including this one, where the salesman promises the irs will stop collection efforts once the customer hires tax masters. >> that's what the irs consultation does. it pulls your name, it pulls your number out of the collection process. >> they don't stop collections from happening, in fact, when you hire this company, sometimes the situation even gets worse. they may garnish you. they may put down liens. >> the situation where you are at right now, financially -- >> reporter: in another call, another claims the company could easily get back taxes reduced to pennies on a dollar. >> you owe $19,000, i mean, we can get you down to basically next to nothing and our job -- our goal is to get tow zero. we're 97% successful. >> get you down to zero, not true.

it's another falsehood of this company. >> reporter: and again, this is somebody who is not a senior tax consultant. >> it is not. it's a salesperson. not somebody with tax expertise. >> reporter: so, these are professional liars. >> they are. absolutely. >> reporter: we wanted to ask cox about the allegations, but he declined to and interviewed. and we saw him leaving his mansion with a suitcase the day before we were to arrive in town. his company has denied any wrongdoing and says they deal with their customers in an honest way. in a statement, cox said, "customers like charlene lee were not representative of his customer base." what would you say to cox, who you trusted when you saw on the commercial? what would you say to him? >> shame on you for doing this to families. shame on you. that's what i would say. >> reporter: in the wake of the investigations, tax masters now says it is modifying some of its fee structures. but the investigations in texas

and minnesota are continuing, as is the tv ad blitz. fox news and cnn told us they are aware of the invest games, but have no current plans to pull the ads, which officials say are deceptive. bill? >> brian, thank you for that. and just ahead, why the crown of the home run king now carries the tarnish of a felony conviction. host: could switching to geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance? host: is the pen mightier than the sword? ninja 2: ow vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. >> after a seven-year, $55 million investigation and trial, a san francisco jury of eight women and four men could not agree today that barry bonds lied to a grand jury about using performance enhancing drugs. but they decided the home run king had been evasive and found him guilty of obstruction of justice. donalds will likely fight that, but whether that matters to fans of hall or fame voters is another question. john donvan looks at the story of the man who dominated america's past time in what will always be known as the steroid era. >> high fly ball, right center field. back it goes. racing back -- and that ball is gone! >> reporter: the thing you can say about barry bonds on this day a jury declared him a felon,

he was a ball player who wanted it. badly. the fame, the money, the glory, the right to call himself not just great, his dad, bobby bonds, he was great, but barry bonds wanted to be the best. >> there it is! >> baseball's very best. >> barry bonds originally when he was first starting out, he was an incredibly fast baseball player who could steal bases, hit for average, do all these amazing things. and he was not known as a power hitter. he was a thin, fast young man. and many have said and i agree with this, that barry bonds would have made the hall of fame on his own right. >> reporter: and he maintains to this day he was not doping with steroids. >> hits it high, hits it deep to center -- >> reporter: that the change we all saw, a guy that looked like this in the later years, having once looked like this, that we were just imagining it, but what we did not imagine, with or without chemical help, he was

good. he was superb. >> early in donalds' career, he was sort of one of these ultimate five-tool players. he wasn't a home run slugger, but he could definitely go long. he was phenomenal who had all of the tools to be one of the best players in the game. >> reporter: but we know that bonds wanted more and did everything he had to. >> it's believed barry got angry when he saw the attention that was being given to mark mcgwire and sammy sosa during the home run derby of 1998. and that's when barry said, i need to do more. >> the same was true of marion jones who wanted it all and did it all to get it all and that included steroids. >> number 70! >> and mark mcgwire, when he broke the home run record. fairly or not, the questions seemed to swirl around some of our very best, almost like they're too good, unhumanly

good. bonds, not the friendliest man in baseball, nevertheless, had his fans and a circle of people who were drawn to the greatness. and now paying a price for being there. his long-time trainer, greg anderson who did more than a year in prison for refusing to testify. kathy hoskins, who broke down in court when they asked her what she saw. >> she testified that she had watched in 2002 greg anderson, barry bonds' personal trainer, inject broonds in the belly button. barry said, oh, this is a little something something for the road. >> reporter: of course, today the verdict was guilty of obstructing justice. not a finding that he took steroids. still, critics are satisfied with this outcome. >> it stops one kid in the united states from taking steroids, then i think this is a very good day for those trying to fight steroids for those who are trying to tell kids not to take performance enhancing

drugs. maybe some kids will learn today that you can't do this and you can't get away with it and that would be a very good thing. >> reporter: as for bonds, who will appeal, being a felon was never apart of the story he wanted to be his. the story of a ball player with hall of fame talent. >> barry bonds has the title! >> reporter: go gave it all and got it all back. that story is gone forever. i'm john donvan for "nightline" in washington. >> and the trial of roger clemens, the era's most dominating pitcher, begins in july. he's accused of perjury. up next, so, you want to be a big tv star but lack obvious talent? no worrieworries. we'll get you some career tips at the first ever reality tv convention. love those jeans. $175. ch-ching! excuse me? ever consider showing your customers what other stores charge for jeans? um...no.

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it's a little like strip tease. you have to keep some stuff hidden to hold the audience's interest. but if you want to get rich, you have to show it all. i'm talking about reality television and tricks of the trade in that genre are all the buzz at the world's first ever reality tv convention. our david wright went and found a "sign of the times." >> reporter: imagine a star trek convention where everyone who showed up dressed like a space alien actually had a shot of beaming up to the star ship enterprise. >> we got him through! >> reporter: the reality rocks expo was a one-stop shop for wannabe reality stars. the first ever reality show convention offered collectible merchandise -- >> got the bobble head for $24.95. the boy shorts for $9.95. >> reporter: a chance to hear from the rising and falling stars. >> my motivation was to stop

smoking pot. >> reporter: but the autograph booths -- >> how are you? >> nice to meet you. >> reporter: were empty. >> not a lot of takers? >> we're entertaining each other. >> reporter: i have a theory about this autograph thing. that's because people who are here want to be stars themselves. you're right. you're right. >> reporter: since the stars seem to have some time on their hands, we thought it was okay to go fishing for advice. what are your tips for the future reality stars of tomorrow? >> well, have a plan b, for sure. >> reporter: so, tip number one, have a backup plan. >> i'm a car crash, man. you have every right to slow down and watch the car crash. >> reporter: "breaking bonaduce," the show gretchen did with her ex-husband danny, wasn't exactly the show they set out to do. >> we originally sold "rock and roll dinner party." it was a pot luck. that's the pilot we shot.

then, my ex went so crazy, they were like, just watch him with the camera. >> reporter: when leads to the second part of her advice. have a thick skin. >> i notice the breasts on that girl right there. >> if you don't know me, i don't care what you think. i had to come to terms with. that. >> reporter: another one, don't be afraid to make a foolle of yourself. because in reality tv, talent's a bonus. either way, these shows make money. >> i'm a big fan of the reality shows that pay me. >> reporter: christopher knight is best known not for his many reality tv shows, like "my fair brady." but rather, for that iconic sit come he did as a kid -- that's him, middle square on the right. peter brady, more than 40 years ago. like "the bray dy bunch" lasts. >> this is like cotton candy.

>> reporter: knight's wife was "america's next top model." the first season. >> never boring. >> reporter: which brings us to our last tip. always remember that, like fashion, reality stardom doesn't last long. the concept of "the brady bunch," guy has three kids, woman has three kids, they get together if that were a reality show, they would have to be a dysfunctional family. >> they forgot that we weren't a family. because there's no reality. >> this is a behavior you want to lose as quickly as you can. >> reporter: but if this expo is anything to go by, there's at least 15 minutes of fame for everyone. i'm david wright for "nightline" in los angeles. >> remember when reality tv was called "the news?" yeah, me neither. our thanks to david wright. finally, president obama spoke today about his plan to fix the national debt. and while he did come out in support of a tax increase on wealthy americans, the other part of his plan, less well ded.