Steve
Wynn Sues Joe Francis for Slander - 3rd June 2010
(Credit:
TMZ)
TMZ.com
is reporting that Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn has
sued "Girls Gone Wild" producer Joe Francis
for slander.
Francis
had earlier claimed that Wynn threatened his life.
"Mr.
Wynn has threatened to kill me ... He said he would
hit me in the back of the head with a shovel and bury
me in the desert."
In
the lawsuit, filed today in L.A. County Superior Court,
Wynn denies all of the above -- stating he "never
threatened to kill Francis, nor physically threatened
him in any manner."
Wynn
is suing for unspecified damages.
Joe
Francis Called “Rapist” and “Douche”
in Lawsuit - 8th September 2010 (Credit:
Gambling911)
Joe
Francis, Girls Gone Wild big chess, and professional
adult industry entrepreneur, is back in the news,
and its bad PR, not his usual spin. Francis, already
in a war of words and legal stouch with Steve Wynn,
American casino and gaming entrepreneur, might be
heading for a hole in the desert if he's not careful.
Francis
told a court that Wynn said he would basically be
digging his own burial in the Nevada desert, but now
insiders say that tons of folks are lining do dig
the hole for Joe boy, and they will do it free of
charge, as a community service! Francis appears to
be making more enemies by the minute, and now ex Girls
Gone Wild employee, Ryan Simkin, has written a book
on Joe and GGW which names the porn king as a child
molester and more, basically calling him everything
under then son, other than Lucifer The Devil.
Oh,
Australian based Media Man joined the GGW affiliate
program about 3 years ago, and never made a cent despite
numerous follow ups to their office to get it sorted,
so they joined the list of those who looked to have
been screwed over my Francis.
In
a bit of a stir, Media Man has also put casino and
gaming advertising on their Media Man Int profile
pages for both Francis and Wynn, in an attempt to
make some bucks off GGW and Wynn (who hates online
casinos and the sector in general). TMZ with the full
story.
Profile
The
Girls Gone Wild franchise, created by Joseph R. Francis,
is a series by the production company Mantra Films,
Inc. Girls Gone Wild videos usually involve a camera
crew patrolling a party-heavy area frequented by young
adults in search of attractive young women who agree
to expose their bodies for the camera, usually in
exchange for a tank top and sometimes short pants.
This involves exposure of breasts and/or buttocks
and genitals, sometimes further removal of clothing,
and sometimes the camera crew following a group of
girls back to a hotel or other location and taping
them engaging in additional sexual activities/intercourse.
Background
The
videos have themes such as Girls Gone Wild: Ultimate
Spring Break or Girls Gone Wild: Sexy Sorority
Sweethearts and are marketed to young adult men[citation
needed]. They are chiefly sold via television
mail order and are frequently advertised on late-night
television infomercials, with a brief "warning"
message as a disclaimer before the commercial
begins.
In
some states in the U.S., exposing oneself in a
public area is a criminal offense defined by state
law as indecent exposure, public lewdness, or
sexual misconduct, etc. One notable exception
is New York, where the Court of Appeals held in
1992 that the state constitution's equal protection
provision allows women to go topless in any public
area where men also have that right. However,
toplessness in itself is not protection against
arrest; it is possible for women to be arrested
for violating other criminal statues while topless,
and many of the women featured in Girls Gone Wild
commit other acts in public that could be cause
for arrest.
Women
who expose themselves in this manner have no expectation
of privacy; moreover, GGW staff members claim
they get every flasher to sign a model release.
The legal effect of these factors has resulted
in a waiver of some women and girls' rights to
bring a lawsuit against GGW. Girls Gone Wild was
recently cited as an example of "sexualization"
(number 23) on USA Today's list of the "25
Trends that Changed America".
Legal action
The
franchise has become so successful in recent years
that several knockoff videos emerged bearing the
"Girls Gone Wild" name. These videos
lack any other apparent connection to the franchise;
for instance, they lack the typical stylized intro
and on-camera narration from the show's producers,
and contain no end credits of any kind—thus,
they also do not contain the Mantra Entertainment
logo. These particular videos have crews that
will patrol the festivals in locations such as
Mardi Gras or Las Vegas claiming to be affiliated
with Girls Gone Wild, even distributing convincing
Girls Gone Wild t-shirts. Videos compiled from
the use of this technique have been released,
at least via the Internet. Also Wild Party Girls
and several other knockoffs have used the Girls
Gone Wild formula with only minor aesthetic changes.
On
December 16, 2003, the U.S. Department of Justice
filed a complaint on behalf of the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) against Mantra Films, Inc., and
its sole officer and director Joseph R. Francis,
seeking civil penalties for violations of previous
Commission determinations concerning unfair and
deceptive acts or practices and consumer redress.
Violations of previous Commission determinations
that an act or practice is unfair or deceptive
and unlawful carry a civil penalty of up to $11,000
per violation. The Commission’s complaint
alleges that since December 2000, Mantra and Francis
deceptively marketed Girls Gone Wild videos and
DVDs to consumers, automatically shipped these
unordered videos and DVDs to consumers, and charged
consumers for them without consumers’ consent.
On
July 30, 2004, the FTC announced a stipulated
court order under which the sellers of "Girls
Gone Wild" DVDs and videos would pay nearly
$1.1 million as combined consumer redress and
a civil penalty and will be barred from a wide
range of activities detailed in a complaint the
U.S. Department of Justice filed on behalf of
the FTC in late 2003. According to the FTC, the
defendants marketed "Girls Gone Wild"
DVDs and videos as part of continuity programs
that resulted in monthly shipments of DVDs or
videos to consumers who did not agree to receive
them.
On
September 12, 2006, Joe Francis, the founder and
Chief Executive Officer of Mantra Films Inc.,
pleaded guilty to federal charges of failing to
document the ages of young women engaging in sexual
acts in the videos, as federal law requires. There
was a plea agreement, part of which required Francis
to pay $2.1 million: a $500,000 fine and $1.6
million in restitution. A 2006 episode of Law
& Order explored some of the controversy with
Girls Gone Wild, using a fictional organization
with similar practices.
On
December 13, 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice
announced that Mantra Films had been sentenced
to pay $1.6 million in criminal fines for failing
to create and maintain age and identity records
for films it produced, and that the “package
agreement” between the government and Mantra
Films, MRA Holdings, LLC, and Joe Francis required
a public acknowledgment of criminal wrongdoing,
a pledge of cooperation with the government in
future investigations, full compliance with the
record keeping laws, and payment of a total of
$2.1 million in fines and restitution.
Joseph
Francis, founder and CEO of both Mantra Films
and MRA Holdings, LLC, was scheduled to be sentenced
on similar offenses in U.S. District Court in
Los Angeles on January 22, 2007. Under a three-year
deferred prosecution agreement, MRA Holdings,
LLC, is to employ an independent outside monitor
to ensure that the company complies with federal
laws. In January 2007, Circuit Judge Dedee Costello
in Pensacola, Florida dropped most of the charges
against Francis claiming that "the evidence
did not support the allegations..." However,
the remaining felony counts charge that Francis
and the company used and conspired to use minors
in sexual performances, charges which carry a
combined maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.
Two misdemeanor counts which also remain charge
Francis and the company with prostitution. (Credit:
wikipedia).
