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| Birth Name(s) : Joe Francis |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Single
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Full Joe Francis Biography
Joseph R. "Joe" Francis (born April 1, 1973) is the founder of Mantra Films, Inc., which produces the Girls Gone Wild and Guys Gone Wild DVD series. Francis, who grew up in Laguna Beach, California, graduated from the University of Southern California in 1995 with a degree in Business Administration. He also completed USC’s Entrepreneur Program..
“Banned From Television” was considered a commercial success and it spawned other sequels. One of the videos which Francis had licensed, contained footage of female college students flashing their breasts during Mardi Gras and Spring Break. Seeing the marketing appeal, he titled that footage “Girls Gone Wild (GGW)”. He eventually stopped licensing the materials and began producing it himself.
In 1997, at the age of 24, Francis founded Mantra Films, Inc.,. Building on the discovered premise that he could film college-age women "going wild," including baring their breasts for the cameras at spring breaks and other locales, Mantra became a company with over 400 employees and has recorded sales in excess of $30 million per year. Mantra also spun off the Guys Gone Wild DVD series
As a public figure, Francis has attracted his share of controversies, including allegations of rape, and conspiracy to use minors in sexual performances. In a well-publicized case, Francis was kidnapped from his Bel Air home by an assailant who also tried to blackmail Francis. The assailant received a 10-year sentence which he is serving.
In the August 6, 2006 issue of West, the Sunday magazine of the Los Angeles Times, an article by Claire Hoffman followed Francis across the country. Her article begins by describing an incident in which Francis pinned her to the hood of a car, apparently demonstrating his 2003 arrest in Florida. Hoffman reports that "the pressure he applied was so intense that hours later, my arms were covered in red hand marks," and says that she was afraid he would break her arm. When she fought him off, Francis grabbed her notebook and accused her of not caring about the First Amendment. Subsequently, he caled her editor and accused her of having "ax to grind because I am jealous and angry" due to what Francis said was her crush on him.
Francis has been a party to several lawsuits. Some stem from activities during the filming of videos and others from the company's practices.
In 2002, Becky Lynn Gritzke discovered that she had been covertly filmed flashing her breasts at a Mardi Gras festival and that the image had been used without her permission on billboards advertising Girls' Gone Wild videos and even on the cover of a video. She sued Mantra Films and settled for an undisclosed sum under an agreement according to which GGW agreed to cease distributing all material bearing Gritzke's image.
In an incident at Panama City Beach, Florida, during spring break 2003, Francis was arrested and then released on $165,000 bond. He was initially charged with 71 separate counts, including racketeering, drug trafficking, and child pornography. Police confiscated his private jet and other property. At a July 27 2006 hearing, the judge threw out 200 hours of videotape and hundreds of other key pieces of evidence in the case. On January 4, 2007, the judge dismissed almost all of the charges stemming from the Panama City case claiming that "the evidence did not support the allegations," and the seized assets were returned. 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. Francis and the company contend that the two participants lied about their ages to get on camera.
On December 16, 2003, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission 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. 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.
Francis was arrested at the Panama City-Bay County International Airport on April 10, 2007 for allegedly violating a contempt of court citation during negotiations in a civil lawsuit brought by seven women who were underage when they were filmed by his company on Panama City Beach during spring break in 2003.
Michael D. Young, writer for the Wiley International CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution, researched the case of Joe Francis’s jailing in Florida and offered a full chronology of events, and asserted that the reach of the judge's rulings about the mediation raises many questions.
The Los Angeles Times has quoted his attorney, Jan L. Handzlik, as saying: "The government has chosen to make a criminal case out of what we believe to be, at most, a civil tax dispute We are also disappointed about the timing of these charges in light of Joe's difficulties in Florida. This is turning into a litigation dog pile." If convicted, Francis could face up to ten years in prison and substantial fines. The trial is set to begin on April 29, 2008. |
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