“Girls Gone Wild” Founder Goes to Florida

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.