1. Joseph R Francis was born on April 1,1973 and is an American soft core porn film producer and the founder and creator of the Girls Gone Wild entertainment brand.
25 Facts About Joe Francis
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Joe 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.
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Joe Francis, born Jonah Frankel, was born on April 1,1973, in Atlanta, Georgia, to parents Raymond and Maria Francis, the latter of whom was from Austria.
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Joe Francis attended the University of Southern California's Business Administration program, concentrating his education at the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.
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Joe Francis took several courses in film and television, graduating in 1995 with a Bachelor's Degree from the USC Entrepreneurial Program.
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Joe Francis licensed the footage, which he then sold through the Banned from Television videos, which he marketed via infomercials.
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Joe Francis created the Girls Gone Wild franchise in 1997 when he began using direct-response marketing, such as infomercials, to sell videos that he had produced.
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Joe 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.
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Joe Francis hired two lawyers that same day to represent him for the duration of the trial.
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In September 2012, a jury awarded a further $20 million to Wynn in a slander case against Joe Francis, claiming that Wynn had threatened to kill him over a gambling debt.
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In 2003, officials in Panama City Beach, Florida, attempted to halt Girls Gone Wild from filming, prompting Joe Francis to sue them for violating his First Amendment rights.
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Joe Francis pleaded guilty to record-keeping violations, was fined $1.6 million and sentenced to community service.
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Joe Francis later pleaded guilty for having contraband in his cell.
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Joe Francis served 339 days and paid over $60,000 in fines.
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In January 2011, Joe 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.
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On May 6,2013, Joe Francis was convicted on all five charges.
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Joe Francis later apologized for his remarks, saying that he had been manipulated by the media.
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On March 25,2015, Joe Francis was sentenced to 336 days in jail after pleading no contest to child abuse and prostitution charges stemming from the filming of underage girls during taping of the Girls Gone Wild series in the popular spring break destination of Panama City, Florida.
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Joe Francis was placed on a six month period of probation and barred from filming in the area for a period of three years.
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Joe Francis's lawyers claimed that the girls had lied about their ages to a camera man and that the footage was never published.
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The Department of Justice alleged that Joe Francis claimed over $20 million in false deductions on his corporate returns in 2002 and 2003.
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At a hearing in July 2008, Joe Francis pleaded not guilty to tax evasion.
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In September 2009, Joe Francis pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of filing a false return and bribery.
24.
Joe Francis interviewed Francis for nine hours at his Casa Aramara residency in Punta Mita, Mexico.
25.
Joe Francis, who was among those interviewed for the documentary, was living outside of the United States in Mexico, where Kohl interviewed him in 2022.