Joseph R. Francis (born April 1, 1973) is an American entrepreneur, film producer[4] and the founder and creator of the Girls Gone Wild entertainment brand.
[5] Francis worked as a production assistant on the syndicated program Real TV (1996) before releasing the direct-to-video film Banned from Television (1998).
[4] Francis has, on several occasions, been convicted of bribery, false imprisonment, assault causing great bodily injury, dissuading a witness, record-keeping violations and tax evasion; in 2015, he pleaded no contest to child abuse and prostitution.
[6] Also in 2015, after being convicted for imprisoning three women at his Hollywood home (and assaulting one of them), he fled the United States and has lived at his residency in Punta Mita, Nayarit, Mexico, ever since, attempting to avoid extradition.
[11] Francis attended the University of Southern California's Business Administration program,[10][11] concentrating his education at the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.
[10][12] During his time at Real TV, people who worked in the studio would often view footage involving car accidents, violent crimes, and other graphic incidents.
[5] In 2005, the company planned to donate 100% of the gross sales of their Mardi Gras-themed DVDs to the Red Cross to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.
[6] Francis represented himself for part of the trial, until the judge cited him for contempt of court and fined him $2,500 for asking a plaintiff during cross-examination if she was a prostitute.
[23] In February 2012, Clark County, Nevada, judge Mark Denton awarded $7.5 million to businessman Steve Wynn for defamatory statements made by Francis.
[26] In November 2012, Judge Joanne O'Donnell reduced Wynn's award to $19 million, reasoning that the jury's decision was "speculative" and formed based on their dislike of Francis.
[27] As part of his January 2015 no contest plea to child abuse and prostitution charges, Francis also agreed to settle a 2003 lawsuit which involved allegations of videotaping the exposed breasts of underage girls.
[6] In 2003, officials in Panama City Beach, Florida, attempted to halt Girls Gone Wild from filming, prompting Francis to sue them for violating his First Amendment rights.
[32] In January 2011, Francis brought a group of three women to his home, leading to five charges: three misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment, one of assault causing great bodily injury, and one of dissuading a witness.
[33][34] On May 22, 2013, Francis gave an interview to The Hollywood Reporter, in which he claimed the jurors were jealous of "who" he is, calling them "mentally f*cking retarded" and suggesting they "should be euthanized".
[36] On August 27, 2013, Francis was sentenced to serve at least 270 days in county jail, 36 months' probation, and was ordered to complete a Level 3 Anger Management course and a year of psychological counseling.
Bernhoft said that when the accountant left the company, he reported the returns to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to collect a bonus from the Tax Whistleblower Program.
[54][55][56] In May 2023, journalist Scaachi Koul wrote in a Huffington Post article that she was investigating former pornographic film franchise Girls Gone Wild.