Complain about a product or service

"Girls Gone Wild" Producer Indicted

April 12, 2007

Girls Gone Wild • GGW Producer Indicted • "Girls Gone Wild" Producer Fined $1.6 Million • Girls Gone Wild Fined $2 Million Fine for Sexually Exploiting Children • Girls Gone Wild Still Going Wild • Judge OKs Class Action Against Girls Gone Wild • Feds charge GGW producers • Consumer complaints • Best Buy cashes in • GGW producer arrested

A federal grand jury in Reno, Nevada, has returned an indictment charging Girls Gone Wild creator Joseph R. Francis with tax evasion.

The U.S. Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service said the indictment alleges that Francis, whose companies Mantra Films Inc. and Sands Media Inc. produce and sell the Girls Gone Wild videotapes and DVDs, deducted more than $20 million in false business expenses on the companies' 2002 and 2003 corporate income tax returns.

According to the indictment, Francis used offshore bank accounts and entities purportedly owned by others to conceal income he earned during 2002 and 2003.

The indictment also alleges that Francis transferred more than $15 million from an offshore bank account to a brokerage account in Irvine, Calif., held in the name of Rothwell Limited, a Cayman Islands corporation, that Francis controlled.

If convicted, Francis faces up to ten years in prison and fines of up to $500,000.

The child porn producer has been a consistent source of complaints to ConsumerAffairs.com, mostly from consumers who say they were charged for DVDs they never ordered and never received.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Back to the top |