More Legal Troubles For GIRLS GONE WILD

GIRLS GONE WILD founder Joe Francis has made himself a very wealthy man from exploiting young women flashing on camera. But, that hasn't always made up for all of the serious legal problems his Mantra film production company has brought him. The latest legal incident seems more minor compared to jail time and huge fines he has already paid because of prior legal problems and tax problems. It seems that a few nights ago, GIRLS GONE WILD rented a Hollywood mansion for a nude photo shoot that neighbors found extremely offensive so they called the police who cited the company with a misdemeanor charge of filming a movie without a permit.

Francis started out as a business student in college and has grown a controversial film empire that started with a line of BANNED FROM TV video series that made him a millionaire by the age of 24. But, then he decided that having young women flash in public would be more fun, and he bought half hour infomercial time on cable TV channels at wee hours of the morning signing customers up for automatic shipments of his videos which brought him FTC legal problems for not always be upfront and disclosing this fact.

But, more serious problems for Francis developed in Panama City, Florida during Spring break in 2003 when Francis was arrested on 71 very serious charges which included racketeering, drug trafficking and failure to follow federal 18USC #2257 laws. His private jet among other property were seized, but after a judge threw out most of the charges his jet and other property were returned in 2007. Francis did eventually have to pay $2.1 million dollar fine for failure to follow federal 18USC #2257 rules in regards to record keeping of the ages of young women appearing in his videos as all other American companies dealing in adult material are required to do. This sloppy way of doing business later led to a lawsuit by four young women who claimed that they were under the age of 18 at the time that GIRLS GONE WILD filmed them. One had even claimed to be as young as 13 at the time. But, the case was settled in court with none of the plaintiffs receiving anything in the way of damages.

Tax problems also landed Francis in jail as well. But these felony charges were eventually reduced to misdemeanor charges. The IRS claims that Francis owed more than $33 million in back taxes, however Francis claims that the IRS seized more than $100 million from his bank accounts.

Of all of the softcore porn companies that ever existed, the empire of Joe Francis has been far more troubled by legal issues than most. Maybe he's been unfairly targeted by authorities, or maybe, he just does business in such a terrible way that he attracts problems. But regardless, his GIRLS GONE WILD empire has faced more serious legal issues than most other adult entertainment companies by far.