Joe Francis, 34, is shown after he surrendered in Panama City, Fla., on April 10. Francis, the multimillionaire founder of “Girls Gone Wild” films, was arrested on contempt of court charges after lawyers for seven women complained he shouted obscenities and threatened them during civil suit settlement negotiations.
Why was Joe Francis arrested? Well, a judge ordered his arrest last week when Francis reportedly changed terms of a settlement deal with a suit involving 7 women. These women accused Francis of victimizing them by filming them in naughty positions while on spring break.
The U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak ordered Francis to surrender to authorities in Panama City by Thursday. He would begin to serve jail time for contempt of court, but word comes that he missed the deadline.
According to the News Herald, Francis said: “I’m not trying to hide at all. I’m on my way to Florida right now to turn myself in and comply with the judge’s order. I would never run from justice.”
Talk about having a bad week! Things seem to be going from bad to really bad for “Girls Gone Wild” creator Joe Francis. Joe is spending some time in jail and he reportedly got busted with some pills in jail. The reason he got caught was because he allegedly tried to bribe one of the security guards with a $100 bill. That bottle of water is gonna cost much more than a 100 bucks, because the guards then searched his cell and found different type of pills including some sleeping and anti-anxiety pills. See money doesn’t buy everything now does it?
So how exactly did Joe Francis get the pills and money inside his cell? TMZ is reporting that the President of Mantra Films, Scott Barbour has also been arrested because he is the one suspected of slipping the pills and the cash to Francis.
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Comment by Celebrity Gossip on 11 May 2007:
Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis will travel to Nevada to face charges of evading $20 million in taxes after completing his five-week stint in a Florida jail for contempt of court. Francis is currently serving a 35-day sentence at a Bay County prison, after he was convicted of shouting abuse at seven women during recent settlement talks.
The women had taken legal action against Francis for allegedly filming them in sexual situations while underage at Panama City Beach in 2003.
Yesterday, Federal Magistrate Judge Larry Bodiford ruled the 34-year-old’s tax evasion charges in Reno, Nevada, took precedence over charges of sexual battery in Florida, after court dates for the two hearings clashed on May 22.
The court ruling was made in spite of protests by Florida authorities, who wanted to keep Francis in custody until a trial for the sexual battery charges got under way.
But he will now be sent to Nevada later this month to face charges filed in April accusing him of deducting more than $20 million in false business expenses on his companies’ 2002 and 2003 corporate income tax returns in March this year.
According to the indictment, Francis used offshore bank accounts and entities purportedly owned by others to conceal income he earned during 2002 and 2003. If convicted, Francis faces up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $500,000.
Meanwhile, Francis’ misdemeanor charge for sexual battery relates to a January incident at a birthday party in Hollywood, where he allegedly touched an 18-year-old woman’s breast, buttocks and inner thigh at least 10 times, despite being asked repeatedly to stop.
Francis faces six months in jail and a $2,000 fine if found guilty.
Comment by Anonymous on 5 September 2007:
bitch