by Josh Grossberg
Wed, 13 Dec 2006 03:11:00 PM PST
Joe Francis is getting off—but it's not going to be easy.
The mastermind behind the popular Girls Gone Wild franchise was sentenced Wednesday to community service, and his company, Mantra Films, was ordered to pay $1.6 million in criminal fines for including minors in his raunchy candid-camera videos.
Francis could have faced up to 10 years in prison because the counts were felonies, but his attorneys ironed out a deal with prosecutors that allowed him to avoid jail time.
Per the deal, the company pleaded guilty Sept. 12 to three counts of violating record-keeping laws by not documenting the ages and identities of the females appearing in the DVDs, some of whom turned out to be underage.
He and his firm also agreed to pay the large financial penalty and submit to outside auditing of its bookkeeping to ensure compliance with the law.
Francis, 33, was in a federal court in Panama City, Florida, to hear his punishment. Before leveling the penalty, U.S. District judge Richard Smoak told Francis that fines weren't harsh enough—$1.6 million represents just 3 percent of Mantra's profits since 2002. The judge also made Francis read a statement from one of the victims.
"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," the judge said.
Smoak ordered Francis to perform eight hours of community service a month for 30 months. Mantra's president, general counsel and chief financial officer were also sentenced to the same amount of community service.
However, the judge gave the Girls guru the option of getting his fellow corporate officers off the hook by doing their community service for them, increasing his requirement to 16 hours a month.
No immediate word on whether Francis will take up the offer. Francis' Los Angeles-based attorney, Aaron Dyer, could not be reached for comment. However, Dyer told the Associated Press that his client doesn’t plan to appeal the sentence and noted that Mantra Films has taken corrective action to prevent a repeat of those previous criminal violations.
The Justice Department filed another federal complaint in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against another GGW entity, MRA Holdings, on similar charges of improper labeling. Francis & Co. cut a deal with prosecutors in which MRA acknowledged wrongdoing and Francis would not serve any time, but instead would pay a $500,000 fine. In return, as long as the company cooperates with the feds and stays out of trouble for three years, the government would dismiss all charges. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 22.
Francis' legal woes don't stop there, though things are looking up.
Last week, prosecutors in Panama City dropped 35 out of 43 criminal counts against the producer and his firms, including racketeering, prostitution and encouraging underage hotties to indulge in X-rated behaviors, resulting from a spring break video shoot there in 2003.
Assistant State Attorney Mark Graham said his office did not have sufficient evidence to go forward on those charges, but will press ahead with trying him on second-degree felony charges of using minors in sexual performances, a crime that could net him up to 15 years in the slammer.
http://www.eonline.com/news/article/...3-1c58a4b292e8 
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