No, it’s not legal or even the IRS. It’s financial–or lack of same. What’s happening while Joe rots in jail is that his empire has to be impacted by the same ill wind that’s riling the ‘adult industry’—free porn.
Why buy DVDs of “Girls Gone Wild” and subject yourself to Mantra Film’s questionable business practices when you can watch for free–or even make a few bucks as a do-it-yourselfer?
It’s September 19—do you know where your Joe Francis is? Not going too wild; he’s been in jail since April, first in Florida, now in Nevada. As in the old Billy Squier song, ‘everybody wants you,’ Joe.
Has he killed anyone? Has he robbed or kidnapped anyone? (Hello, OJ!)
OK, he’s obnoxious and egotistical. He’s a strong persuader–hence the Florida under-age girl lawsuits–and maybe not so detail-oriented—hence the tax evasion charges.
And yes, not only is he a former squeeze of fellow jailbird Paris Hilton (she of “I stepped in AIDS” ignorance fame), but he also offered formerly squeaky clean Vanessa Hudgens of High School Musical $500,000 from jail “to join the Girls Gone Wild brand and lifestyle.”
But five months in jail? How much time has Larry Flynt, Bob Guccione or the Hef himself spent behind bars? Joe, get some new lawyers. Or find some new friends–outside the graybar hotel.
With Girls Gone Wild, Joe Francis gave America what it wanted, including the girls , who liked the attention going wild got them. Now America is giving it to him.
Hey Joe–in the words of the immortal Billy Squier, “everybody wants you.” Unfortunately, “everybody” isn’t just tipsy college girls hoping for a Girls Gone Wild t-shirt, or even Miss Florida and Miss Nevada. Instead, it’s prosecutors in Florida and Nevada that want Joe–after he’s done with his 35 days of contempt of court in the Sunshine State.
Florida claims there are unresolved criminal complaints from Panama Beach about Girls Gone Wild exploiting underage minors (the same stuff that put Joe in jail on civil contempt charges) while a federal prosecuter wants Joe on tax evasion issues in Nevada. This just in–the Feds in Nevada get first crack!
When their obligations to various judiciary bodies are over, perhaps Joe and Paris should get back together and claim their rightful crown as America’s Most Hated Couple.
No, Joe Francis is not a sympathetic figure. But a conviction and 35 days in jail with a convicted cop killer for a cellmate, for squabbling with a judge?
It’s tempting to blame it all on Francis’ own hubris. But this, the bribery charges, and the crowing Department of Justice press release announcing the tax indictment, makes it pretty clear there’s a government bulls-eye on Joe’s back.
When first they come for the pornographers, to paraphrase Pastor Niemoller, who will they come for next?
The hoopla over Tax Day is muted this year, and rightly so. There will still be a few in-front-of-the-post-office standups on the evening news, and some tax comedy from the likes of .
Even the richest and most powerful CEOs can’t resist cheating, so yet another new player might be wearing pinstripes soon. ”I want that money!” shouts in The Producers, before he’s arrested for creative accounting.
Are you listening, Joe?
Joe Francis is a man America loves to hate. He’s tall, rich, arrogant and arguably handsome. He’s seen as a pornographer and exploiter of underage girls, and worst of all, he’s an intimate friend of Paris Hilton (link NSFW). And his company’s unconscionable use of the ‘approval’ sales process (once you’ve ordered, they keep sending you new DVDs and charging your credit card) put the FTC on the case.
Now the guys who brought down Al Capone are after him. It’s no wonder he tried to get a little in his lonely cell.
But Francis may be a canary in a coal mine illuminating government attacks on ‘pornographers’–and a victim of his own success. When you really need friends, it’s too late to make them, and Francis mistook the hangers on, leerers and entourage for friends. He didn’t buy respectability like this First Amendment defender.
Francis may also be targeted by what Andrew Sullivan calls the Christianists in power. Judge Smoak, who said,“It does not take a very brave man to go out and corner a girl in the middle of spring break who had four drinks,” is a Bush appointee and a long-time resident of Panama City, Florida, which has been after Francis for years.