By Bianca Fox
RENO, Nev. - Joe Francis, founder of Girls Gone Wild, is being released from a Nevada jail and returned to Florida on Tuesday to face charges related to the filming of underage girls.
During a brief hearing Monday before U.S. Magistrate Robert McQuaid, defense lawyer Fred Atcheson gave the court a $1.5 million cashier's check to cover Francis' bail on tax evasion charges.
Francis' lawyer told a federal judge in Reno that Francis will appear in a Panama City, Fla., courtroom on Wednesday day to resolve charges related to the alleged 2003 filming of girls during spring break. Francis, 34, has been in jail in Nevada facing federal tax evasion charges since last year. He has been caught since then in a sort of tug-of-war between federal prosecutors in Nevada and state attorneys in Florida.
His legal problems started about five years ago in Panama City, where he still faces four felony and two misdemeanor charges that remain from an initial 73-count indictment stemming from the spring break filming. His lawyers stated that the underage women lied about their ages to an independent camera operator, and that none of the footage was used.
Last April, a federal grand jury in Reno indicted Francis and his companies Mantra Films Inc. and Sands Media Inc. on tax fraud charges.
The government alleges the companies claimed more than $20 million in phony deductions in 2002 and 2003, and that Francis used offshore accounts to conceal income.
When contacted by AVN Online, executives at Girls Gone Wild said they had no comment on the latest development.
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