'Girls Gone Wild' Producer Sentenced
 

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/13/D8M0563O1.html

"The founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" video empire was sentenced to community service Wednesday for his company's guilty plea to federal charges of failing to monitor the ages of the women in its videos."

"The company, Mantra Films Inc., also agreed to pay $1.6 million in fines for using drunken 17-year-olds in videos it filmed on Panama City Beach during spring break and failing to properly label its DVDs and videos as required by federal law"

"The fine represents less than 3 percent of Mantra films' profits since 2002 and only 12 percent of Mantra's 2005 profits, Smoak said. Francis makes an estimated $40 million a year."

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Who here who isn’t making $40 million a year thinks they would have gotten 16 hours of community service for 30 months if they video taped a drunk minor topless?

Ju$tice.

Money Talks huh? Think most small timers would have been hung. Couse what kind of lawyers can you get with 40 mill a year?

ronnie

No shit. You can bet if one of us bums did this we'd be screwed.

On another note...$40 million a year? DAYUM!

I read about that yesterday. Speaking of Bums...My wife called me to come down and see Dr Phil who had the guy from Bumfights on. They started by showing clips from the Bumfight videos and then when they were going to talk to the guy, he was sitting there with his head shaved to look like Phil :) The good Doctor threw the guy out and said he wasn't going to allow Bumfights to be promoted. After the guy left, the rest of the show was still about Bumfights. :)

He was making $40 million a year??? |shocking| Money talked in that courtroom!

Clearly Im no lawyer, but isnt this sort of a good thing for us and the industry? In that its setting some sort of precedent.

They went after one of the biggest companies in adult and the guy got community service and a fine.

Seems to me like his big money is helping all of us in a round about way, but maybe Im just being too hopefull.

you know, when you actually have videos of girls sky diving nude out of a plane you probably own, the Justice Dept might seem a little less intimidating heh heh


spaz

Ouch...I feel sorry for the producer, and yes they should have shown the ages of the girls...ohhh, I am a huge fan of Girls Gone Wild and I'm very upset...|cry| |cry|

dont worry, i am sure that $40+ million a year gives them some solace

lets type that out shall we? $40,000,000+

yeah, i'd be ok picking up cans along the side of the road LOL


spaz

I wonder how much money he has stuffed in his pillow because I bet he isn't using down.

Ok, what did he film the underage girls doing exactly? Nude shots? I happen to agree with the article, nothing brave about seducing a drunk underage girl to pose naked... Imagine someone doing that to your daughter? not much fun IMO.

All I gotta say...look forward to "Girls Gone Community Service Wild" :D

I wonder if this drunk slut showed the same ID that got her the alcohol?

I wondered the same thing. |sad|

Well known facts:

1) All minors use fake IDs to get alcohol, it is 100% impossible to get alcohol other wise. I mean really, who ever heard of someone 21 or older giving minors booze especially during spring break?

2) All girls who flash tits are known sluts, in fact all women are known sluts, and they love to be called that, so feel free to say “Hi Slut” to any female you see.

3) He of course had records to prove they were over 18 years of age.

4) None of this is his own fault, but the fault of “drunken sluts” he just happens to be walking around with a camera and out of the blue a “drunk slut” flashed him.

After more thought on this subject, I think he needs to sue the “drunk sluts” for emotional damage, I’m sure he was traumatized by their actions.

I greeted my girlfriend as you suggested and as it turn out they are sluts with a great backhand!

Thank you Torn, well put :)

Some people can't tell the difference between "slut" used as a term of endearment within a relationship of of two adults (perfectly legitimate and a turn on for some women) and the derogative use of the word slut which is still offensive and unjustified. Are there women who enjoy flashing boobs, you betcha there are. It has little to do with getting a kid to do it in front of the camera, drunk or not. Had these been women over 18, he would be a richer man with more time on his hands. Bottom line is, he crossed the lines of legitimate porn there.

Wow what a great deal he got there!

I wonder if the judge and prosecutor were given a free lifetime membership to his club?

i heard he is appealing the sentence

LOL that's just sick, the punishment doesn't even come to a slap on the wrist for that company and they are going to appeal?

|bow| The Balls!!|headbang|


spaz

It's Girls gone wild not Guys gone wild :D

LOL you're right.... but more accurately it is Guy gone completely INSANE to appeal that decision LOL


spaz

I am wondering how old HE is.
Isn't he very young? 20's? Just curious.

Francis, 33, said his policy has always been not to film girls under 18 and that the girls filmed in Panama City lied about their ages.

and I'm not gonna tease you and say that that is a quote from the article either :D


people are always after Francis because he makes a ton of money, he has even been kidnapped before... is it his fault that two 17yos lied about their ages and probably had fake ids since they were drinking? not one bit, and how is he supposed to know how much they had to drink? not his responsibility either... these were two girls who got caught doing something wrong and tried to blame somebody else for their own actions and i see "the slap on the wrist" as a good thing for the industry, remember the underage model scare last year and the industry spread the word, was anybody blasting the content providers then about shooting underage girls?? no because they lied about their age... same story here... the worst thing they are responsible for is improperly labeling their DVDs and keeping proper records, hence the slap on the wrist...

LOL....

Ok, please show me WHERE it says he/they saw an ID for the minors?

Anyone?

Why is it that so many of you are assuming the girls had a fake ID? Has he/they said they did? If so I missed that part so please by all means show me where it says the girls had fake IDs.

During Saturday's Dateline feature, Francis told reporter Keith Morrison: "I've been a target of lawsuits ... and other accusations and ridiculous things in the past." Asked specifically about hiring underage girls, he replied, "Well, some girl showing a fake ID? If somebody shows you a fake ID, you have every reason to believe that they're that age."

Joe Francis, Dateline NBC Interview

http://community.emeraldcoast.com/ar....db.php?a=4725

last line in that article: "The jury sided with Mantra Films citing that the girls lied to them about being over 18"

and also the previous line is one of interest: Under Florida law minors are allowed to be filmed as long as they are on public property.

Interesting, and he had copies to prove they "was of age" and the girls have been charged with having a false ID?

from The Wall Street Journal Law Blog:

In 2002, two 17-year-old North Texas girls were vacationing in Florida when a Girls Gone Wild videographer approached them and asked them to flash their breasts. The girls complied, according to the lawsuit, but only after being told by the camerman that he was shooting a private film. They also signed a consent form and lied to the camerman that they were over 18.

The jurors ruled in favor of the company and awarded no damages, finding that the girls had signed a valid consent form. Said Richard Merrill of Fabio & Merrill, which represented Mantra: “The plaintiffs knew what they were doing. The jury realized that there were no drugs, alcohol or coercion involved in what they did.”

The girls signed a consent form stating that they were at least 18. The lawsuit by the girls was fueled by their parents after they found out what happened, the girls never complained about anything until it became public knowledge that they were on a GGW video.

And seing as the gov'ts case originally included 71 different counts including stuff like racketeering, prostitution, and chyld porrnography
and settled on community service and a fine for record keeping and labeling tells you that the case had no merit and the girls were responible for their own actions... there was no way in hell the gov't could let him off scott free, they had to get him for something... and now the penalty for bad record keeping is up to 5 yrs if the new regs stand and there is still no protections in place for porn producers if models lie about their ages |huh if this case would have went the other way it woulda set very bad precedent against our industry and we really dont need any more of that

Where is his copy of their IDs?

On Sept 12th 2006, Mantra Films pled guilty to charges that it failed to create and maintain age and identity documents for performers in sexually explicit films that it produced and distributed, and that it failed to label its DVDs and videotapes as required by federal law.

They didn't plead guilty to any of the bullshit quoted in the slanted article you posted and quoted from. Nothing about 17yos, underage anything. It's scary that the gov't and the anti-porn media even has the adult industry buying into all the bs. If you want more info google is your friend. Has GGW aka Mantra Films learned their lesson about keeping proper docs? YES! Are the chyld pronogrphers that are hell bent on finding "drunken" underage girls in order to produce and distribute DVDs with the content? No. They got nailed by 2257.

I'm finished with the subject.

damn.... I still want to know where are his copies of the underage IDs... I mean I'm sure he would have proof of age.

I have to agree with you here Torn, where was the copy of the IDs that has been required since the late 80s?

KinkyJones makes plenty of good points as well but i see it pretty cut and dry;

the entire industry is required to have photo IDs and a model release with the model giving expressed written consent to use the content for profit. So why is it that GGW feels they should not have to pay the fine for the crimes they admitted to committing?

IF Mantra had produced copies of the fake IDs that had been given to them and the signed releases, hell I would be screaming that nothing should be done to them!

Slap on the wrist and lesson learned? ok now they know to actually follow the law... and it cost them 1.6 million USD, they should deal with it and pay the damned fine.


spaz

and the witch hunt continues

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16599461/

But at least he has all the IDs.