Joe Francis, the boss of “Girls Gone Wild,” is being
released from a Nevada jail so he can head to Florida in order to face charges
concerning his filming of underage girls.
Apparently, Francis has made a fortune selling videos of
young women who posed half-naked and in provocative situations.
He has been unable, until now, to leave the Nevada jail,
where he was in for federal tax evasion charges. Francis’ defense lawyer, Fred
Atcheson, gave the court a $1.5 million cashier’s check to cover Francis’ bail
on the tax charges and assured the judge that Francis would meet all the other
conditions required for his release.
"Today I posted my bond in Reno so that I can
immediately return to Florida to face the charges against me," Francis
said in a statement, according to People.
Francis has been jailed on both
sides of the country for nearly a year. He's caught in a tug-of-war between
federal prosecutors in Nevada and state attorneys in Florida.
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 in “Girls
Gone Wild” videos.
In June 2007, Francis and his
company, Mantra Films, were the subject of another similar lawsuit. Again,
images had been used without the subject’s permission. Francis got rid of the
charges, showing footage that revealed the subjects had agreed to be filmed.
In 2007, Francis was also accused
of bribery, possession of a controlled substance and introducing contraband
(cash and drugs) into the Panama City, Florida jail.
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