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Joe Francis

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Joe Francis
BornJoseph R. Francis
(1973-04-01) April 1, 1973 (age 51)
OccupationOwner of Mantra Films

Joseph R. "Joe" Francis (born April 1, 1973) is an American entrepreneur, known as the founder of GGW Brands which produces the Girls Gone Wild and Guys Gone Wild DVD series.

Francis grew up in Laguna Beach, California. His parents are Raymond and Maria Francis and he has three sisters. He attended Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic School, Rumsey Hall boarding school, a military academy, Corona del Mar High School, and Laguna Beach High School. Following high school Francis attended and graduated with a degree in business administration from the University of Southern California.

Upon graduation Francis worked with his father's business, then for various media production companies, where he founded "Banned from TV" videos using clips not suitable for mainstream broadcast from the studios he worked at to market on a direct to consumer basis. "Banned from TV" made Francis a millionaire by 24. It was from "Banned from TV" that Francis developed the concept of college girls exposing their breasts and marketing these videos direct to consumers as well. Initially marketed as College Girls Gone Wild, Girls Gone Wild was born from this concept. Soon the videos of the young women exposing themselves became wildly successful and Francis became even richer and more publicly known.

Beginning of a brand

Francis' first video, sold through commercials, was a series of private clips and news footage deletions of fatal accidents that were considered too graphic for broadcast. Banned From Television was considered a commercial success and it spawned other sequels. One of the videos that Francis had licensed contained footage of female college students flashing their breasts during Mardi Gras and Spring Break. Seeing the marketing appeal, he titled that footage Girls Gone Wild (GGW). He eventually stopped licensing the material and began producing it himself.

In 1997, at the age of 24, Francis founded Mantra Films, now known as GGW Brands Sellers of ‘Girls Gone Wild’ Videos. Building on Francis' discovery that he could film college-age women "going wild," including baring their breasts for the cameras at spring breaks and other locales. Mantra also spun off the Guys Gone Wild DVD series.

Francis' Girls Gone Wild is regularly referenced in today’s society and pop culture atmosphere and was recently cited as an example of "sexualization," number 23 on USA Today's list of the "25 Trends that Changed America".

Controversies

On 22 January 2004 Francis's Bel Air home was broken into and he was forced at gunpoint to star in a homosexual themed video.

Francis has been criticized by third wave feminist Ariel Levy for perpetuating what some consider "the new double standard," which equates the objectification of women with sexual liberation.

Francis and his company has come under legal scrutiny on a number of occasions. Recurring allegations include that footage of women engaged in sexual activity was used without the consent of the women, that Mantra Films engaged in sexual exploitation of minors, and that incomplete records were kept of participants in GGW videos.

Civil

In June 2007, Francis and his company became the subject of a lawsuit claiming that images had been used without the subject's permission. However, the plaintiff, Ashley Alexandra Dupré better known as the prostitute involved in the Eliot Spitzer scandal that led to his resignation as New York governor in March 2008, dropped the suit after Francis released footage showing her agreeing to be filmed.

Charges in Florida

In an incident at Panama City Beach, Florida, during spring break 2003, Francis was arrested and then released on a $165,000 bond. He was initially charged with 71 separate counts, including racketeering, drug trafficking, and child pornography. Police confiscated his private jet and other property. At a July 27, 2006 hearing, the judge threw out 200 hours of videotape and hundreds of other key pieces of evidence in the case, and on January 4, 2007 dismissed almost all of the charges, ruling that "the evidence did not support the allegations," and the seized assets were returned. Francis plead guilty to several counts of 18 U.S.C. § 2257 record keeping violation and was fined $1.6M and sentenced to perform community service.

On April 12, 2007, Francis was accused of bribery, possession of a controlled substance, and introducing contraband (cash and drugs) into the Panama City, Florida jail. The Associated Press reported that Francis (in jail for contempt of court) offered a guard one hundred and then five hundred dollars for a bottled water. Jailers allegedly found drugs including Lunesta and lorazepam in the jail cell. This is despite the fact that Francis had disclosed the medication upon his incarceration. Francis reportedly faced up to five years in prison if convicted on these charges. On March 12, 2008 Francis was convicted on child abuse and prostitution charges after pleading no contest in a plea bargain. He also pleaded guilty to charges related to having contraband in his cell during the time he was held in jail. He was sentenced to time served (339 days) and more than $60,000 in fines and costs.

On March 25, 2008, four women filed suit against him in Florida for filming them while underage, with one girl claiming she had been 13 when filmed. On April 7, 2011, this trial was decided with no award for the plaintiffs.

In April 2011 Francis faced the same judge in Panama City, Florida who first sent him to jail back in 2007. Francis represented himself in a lawsuit against him in Federal Court in Florida. Four female plaintiffs alleged they had suffered emotional distress from being videotaped and shown in Francis' Girls Gone Wild video series. After being reprimanded by the judge, threatened with jail time and held in contempt, Francis hired local lawyers to finish handling the trial. After eight days of trial, the jury found in favor of Francis and against the plaintiff.

Federal criminal tax problems

On April 11, 2007, Francis was indicted by a federal grand jury in Reno, Nevada on two counts of tax evasion

Francis was charged with filing a fraudulent corporate tax return for a company for which he allegedly is the sole shareholder. The United States Department of Justice asserts that Francis claimed over $20 million in false business deductions on his corporate tax returns during 2002 and 2003. The Los Angeles Times quoted his attorney, Jan L. Handzlik, as saying: "The government has chosen to make a criminal case out of what we believe to be, at most, a civil tax dispute..." A trial date was set and subsequently vacated in the case.

On April 22, 2008, a court order was entered changing the location of the case (a change of venue) to Los Angeles, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. At a hearing on July 21, 2008, Francis pleaded not guilty to felony tax evasion. Francis' attorney, Robert Bernhoft, said that tax returns for the businesses were prepared and filed by a former corporate accountant without being shown to Francis. Bernhoft asserts that when the accountant left the companies, the accountant contacted the IRS to report the accounting mistakes with the hope of collecting a bonus from the government Tax Whistleblower Program.

On February 2, 2009, Francis was arrested for failing to attend his court hearing. The following day, he was released to home detention and electronic monitoring on the grounds that he was too sick to attend the hearing.

In September 2009, Francis pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns and bribing Nevada jail workers. The plea agreement reportedly requires him to pay $250,000 in restitution. He received credit for the time he served in jail, and would be subject to one year of supervised release. On November 5, 2009, U.S. District Judge S. James Otero accepted Francis’ deal on the grounds that a key witness withheld information from prosecutors.

“It took us seven months, but in the end we demonstrated that the felony tax charges never should have been brought in the first place. As a result, the indictment was dismissed and the charges were reduced to only two misdemeanors with no jail time." Brad Brian, lead trial attorney,

On November 6, 2009, The IRS filed a federal tax lien in the amount of $33,819,087.14 for failing to pay personal income taxes for the 2001, 2002, and 2003 calendar years. On or about November 18, 2009; Francis himself stated the IRS seized over $100,000,000 in cash from various bank accounts.

Madonna & Superbowl problems

On February 4, 2012 there has been a mild controversy surrounding the song "Girls Gone Wild" by Madonna. Joe Francis, known for his franchise with the same name, threatened to sue Madonna if she sings the song at the performance of her Superbowl XLVI. The claims between the song and the franchise was that she had "Violated Federal and State trademark laws by making unauthorized use of Mr. Francis' trademark Girls Gone Wild in not only the title, but subject line of her various advertisements in order to lure potential consumers to purchase her latest musical effort." It was later announced by NFL that the song will not be performed at the Superbowl.

References

  1. "Joe Francis's IMDB page". Retrieved 2006-08-15.
  2. Hoffman, Claire (2006-08-06). "'Baby, Give Me a Kiss'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2006-08-15.
  3. "Meet Joe Francis - My Story- Page 1".
  4. http://www.meetjoefrancis.com/joe-francis-biography/
  5. USA Today, 25 Trends That Changed America, 2007-03-27
  6. Six Degrees Of Paris Hilton by Mark Ebner - http://www.amazon.com/Six-Degrees-Paris-Hilton-Shakedowns/dp/1451631758/ref=pd_sim_b5#reader_1451631758
  7. Levy, Ariel (March 22, 2004). "Dispatches from Girls Gone Wild". Slate. Retrieved April 10, 2010.
  8. Rolling Stone, Wild Thing, By Vanessa Grigoriadis, 05-22-2002
  9. ibid.
  10. David Angier (2007-06-12). "Joe Francis faces new lawsuit". Panama City News Herald. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-14.
  11. Lia Haberman (2007-10-15). "The Hum: Joe Francis Off the Hook". E! Online. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  12. "The Smoking Gun". 2003-04-04. Retrieved 2006-08-15.
  13. "Girls Gone Wild Catches Break". Emerald Coast. 2006-07-27. Retrieved 2006-08-15.
  14. Associated Press, January 5, 2007"Judge Drops Most Charges Against 'Girls Gone Wild' Producer Joe Francis"
  15. http://meetjoefrancis.com/joe-francis-legal-story/joe-francis-legal-story-page5.php
  16. "Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis hit with new charges". New York Daily News. 2007-04-13. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  18. "'Girls Gone Wild's' Francis pleads no contest to child abuse, prostitution charges". The Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 2008-03-13. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
  19. "4 Women Sue 'Girls Gone Wild' Founder Joe Francis for Underage Filming". Fox News. 2008-03-25.
  20. "Jury Awards Zero Dollars In Francis Federal Trial". WMBB. 2011-04-07.
  21. ^ Richard Verrier (2007-04-12). "Tax evasion charges add to Francis' legal woes". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-05-31.
  22. #237: 04-11-07 CREATOR OF GIRLS GONE WILD INDICTED FOR TAX EVASION
  23. The News Herald, Panama City, Fla Francis to Seek Removal From Lawsuit, Saturday, 24 May 2008, By David Angier
  24. Order to Continue, docket entry 45, September 7, 2007, United States v. Joseph R. Francis, United States District Court for the District of Nevada, Reno Division; case no. 3:07-cr-00026-BES-RAM-ALL.
  25. United States v. Francis, no. 2:08-cr-00494-SJO, U.S. Dist. Ct., C.D. Calif.
  26. "'Girls Gone Wild' Founder Fights Tax Charges," WebCPA, July 23, 2008, at
  27. "Joe Francis ordered released from custody". Yahoo. 2009-02-03. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
  28. "Joe Francis Cops Plea in Tax Evasion Case," North Country Gazette, Sept. 25, 2009, at
  29. "'Girls Gone Wild' founder Joe Francis sentenced in tax evasion and jail bribery case". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. 2009-11-06. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  30. http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_documents/1118_francis.pdf

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