Girls Gone Wild, Bankrupt

The news broke that the soft-core porn company Girls Gone Wild will file for bankruptcy. The company’s decision was largely related to a debt owed to the casino Wynn Las Vegas thanks to the actions of founder Joseph Francis.

But that’s not the only legal trouble that Francis and the company have found themselves in recently. GGW has faced a whole slew of lawsuits for exploiting women, which have substantially contributed to Francis’s financial troubles.
In their bankruptcy filings, GGW cites another debt owed to Tamara Favazza, a woman who sued the company for putting her on film against her will. She won the suit, along with $5.8 million from Francis.

Favazza sued Francis in 2008, claiming someone exposed her breasts while filming in a bar in St. Louis for the “Girls Gone Wild Sorority Orgy” DVD series, according to court documents.
Favazza, a St. Louis resident, won a $5.8 million judgment and then sued Francis, GGW Brands and Mantra Films last year in federal court in Missouri to collect.

GGW Brands called Favazza’s claim a “trade debt” in its Chapter 11 petition. In bankruptcy, trade debts are owed to suppliers, vendors and other service providers.

Favazza is far from alone in demanding remuneration from GGW.

Take, for example, Lindsey Boyd. Now 26, Boyd originally sued the company in 2004 for running video of her as a 14-year-old flashing a cameraman for beads. The case was ultimately decided in November of 2012 — and Boyd lost not because her claim was inaccurate, but because her home state of Georgia had no law in place that protected her photo from being used for commercial use against her consent. In the year 2008, a total of four women sued Francis collectively with similar claims of emotional damages from being filmed underage. Because the company had waivers for them, their cases were also tossed.

Francis has openly admitted to the exploitation that seemed integral to his company’s business model. In 2006, he plead guilty to exploiting minors and paid a fine of $500,000 after admitting that he didn’t keep track of the identities and ages of the women (or girls) captured in his videos. He similarly plead “no contest,” and served a year in jail, for charges of child abuse and prostitution. He was required to post a $1.5 million bond, which likely added to his financial woes.

MDC says, a perfect escape route for Francis and GGW team. Bankrupt? haha…sure thing? Enjoy the dinero down in Cabo that you stole by billing credit cards for product never shipped or entered into a membership club. ADIOS Amigo

Source; think progress