LOS ANGELES, CA — Joe Francis is perhaps one of the adult entertainment industry’s most successful mainstream television advertisers. His softcore and a little bit more Girls Gone Wild videos rake in millions for the young mogul and infuriate conservative viewers with their brazenly effective marketing techniques.So effective have 33-year-old Francis’ cable ads become that Tennessee Senator Doug Jackson hopes to have them declared obscene in an attempt to ban them from his state’s television screens.
Jackson’s censorship pipedream is the least of the beleaguered Francis’ legal concerns, however. Having been freshly handed 200 hours of community service to complete within the next two years — twice the number his attorneys had hoped to see him straddled with — in addition to a new $500,000 fine; the young multi-millionaire is feeling the long arm of the law and not liking it.
The latest hand to reach into Francis’ deep pockets was directed there on Monday by U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow, a federal sentencing judge in Los Angeles, CA. Morrow’s judgments followed a December court appearance in Panama City, FL, during which the Girls Gone Wild parenting company’s principles were ordered to serve 32 hours of monthly community service over a period of 30 months. This was the result of a plea bargain with the Department of Justice in September, after Francis admitted that his company had shot footage of drunken underage teens and pled guilty to two felony counts of violating federal 2257 record-keeping laws. In addition to the newly assessed fine, the company had already agreed to pay $1.6 million related to a related Florida case.
Morrow disagreed with Francis’ legal representatives, who insisted that he is an “exemplary citizen” guilty of nothing more than making a simple “record-keeping violation.” Instead, she said that she considered the charges to be part of an “endemic” problem within Mantra, Inc, and denied Francis’ request for travel to his Mexican villa without restriction, requiring him to gain permission to travel outside of the United States on business or anywhere for pleasure. This means that before Francis can attend a planned meeting in China, he will have to file court papers requesting permission.
Although Panama City’s U.S. District Judge Richrad Smoak clearly stated that the reasoning behind the community service in conjunction with fines was to make an impact on the wealth heavy video entrepreneur, Francis contends otherwise. Now that his court appearances are over, Francis feels comfortable sharing more of his internal dialogue, which includes a belief that he has been specifically targeted for prosecution by the Department of Justice.
“Of course I’ve been unfairly targeted by the government,” he insisted upon court completion. “What better target than Joe Francis?”
Rob Black and Lizzie Borden of Extreme Associates might have opinions on that subject.
Although Francis insists that he believes his problems stem from the fact that “the government needs to make an example” he indicates a lack of appreciation for whatever lesson the government may have attempted to teach him. Referring to the five years involved in the investigation of himself and his business, he concluded that, “this is the best that they could come up with.”
Mantra has appealed the sentencing.
