Result: many many many many many many more dvds sold. Via Actress Archives
Probation and fine for Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis
It’s all fun and games until someone has to pay, which is probably what Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis is thinking right about now. Francis, the man behind the popular Girls Gone Wild videos, has pled guilty to violating rules that prevent the exploitation of minors and has been fined $500,000. In addition, Francis was sentence to two years probation and was given 200 hours community service in L.A. on Monday.
Reuters reports that the company of Joe Francis, Mantra Films Inc., is responsible for the wildly popular Girls Gone Wild videos, which feature topless, naked and drunk young coeds. While there isn’t a law against such scantily clad and sexy behavior as portrayed in the videos, there are laws in place to protect underage minors from getting involved in such activities, and that’s where Joe Francis got into trouble with the law. Pleading guilty to the charge of exploiting underage minors, Francis also received 200 hours of community service and two years probation, in addition to the $500,000 fine.
As part of the defense, lawyer for Joe Francis, Aaron Dyer stated that while his client did plead guilty to the two felony charges as part of the deal reached last September with the Justice Department, Joe is actually a “quality individual” who wasn’t involved in the filming and who only admitted to not keeping very good records.
The part of the video in question surrounds two 17-year-old girls engaged in sexual activity for the 2002 Ultimate Spring Break version of the series. Joe Francis doesn’t dispute the fact that he knowingly included the footage without the proper documents to prove the age of the participants.
This may be true, but the prosecutors were trying to paint a much different picture, especially of the atmosphere at Mantra Films Inc, in which they claim that Joe Francis created a culture in the company that disregarded the law surrounding underage sex and the laws of record keeping. They also claim that the operating procedure was to get girls drunk and then take them to hotel rooms and film them.
Monday’s court decision isn’t the first for Francis as last month Joe was in a Florida court for a lawsuit brought against Mantra Films, which saw him fined $1.6 million that time. Francis, along with other employees were also ordered to do community service, which Joe is currently appealing.
While some may think the latest legal action isn’t punishment enough, Francis feels like he’s being made an example and that the government has singled him out. Outside of court on Monday after the verdict, Joe Francis told reporters the action only happened because of the high profile nature of his Girls Gone Wild videos. Afterward, Francis was quoted to say, “The FBI investigated me for five years … and this is the best that they could come up with.”
Girls Gone Wild began in 1998 with a camera crew roaming party locales like Spring Break in Florida or Mardi Gras in New Orleans filming drunk coeds that flashed for the camera and engaged sexual activity. The franchise has continued to grow over the years even and currently boasts of sales in excess of $100 million with 60 titles in its catalogue
Joe Francis grew up in Laguna Beach, California, graduated from the University of Southern California in 1995 and started Mantra at the age of 24. He has appeared on The Howard Stern Show as well as The Man Show. In 2004 Francis was involved in a strange abduction, which resulted in the founder being filmed in humiliating sexual positions at gunpoint that were to be used as blackmail material. On February 7, 2006 Darnell Riley pled guilty to the crime and was sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in prison.
