Joe Francis has recorded a YouTube video discussing his wrongful imprisonment and calling his persecution a silencing of free speech. The Girls Gone Wild founder starts the video with the text “this can happen to you,” even though there are very few of us making titty videos with drunken girls on Spring Break. He’s calling for the impeachment of the judge who sent him to jail without bail on contempt of court charges for a civil case, and urges people to e-mail the chairman of the House Judicial Committee to ask for Judge Smoak’s impeachment.

Francis was in jail way too long for contempt of court, and he has a point that he was wrongfully prosecuted by a judge with ties to the lawyer in the civil case. I read through the legal responses on his website and in my opinion he’s correct that he shouldn’t have stayed in jail as long as he did. The guy is definitely scummy and there are allegations that he raped an 18 year-old girl, but he was in jail for nearly a year on charges that did not warrant such a long sentence with no chance of bail.

Here’s why Francis shouldn’t have been in jail for so long:

It just so happens that Judge Smoak is the ex-law partner of Ross McCloy, one of the lawyers seeking millions of dollars from Francis for the women in the case. They were both partners in a law firm called Harrison, Sale, Smoak and McCloy. Interestingly, Judge Smoak’s other law partner was Franklin Harrison, who was the attorney that represented the sheriff’s department when Francis successfully sued the sheriff’s department and won his jet back.

[From MeetJoeFrancis.com]

In his new video, above, Francis tells the camera with wild intense eyes that he’s disputing the “multi-million dollar ransom” he was forced to pay in order to get out of jail. He settled that civil case for which he was indefinitely imprisoned for an undisclosed sum, and he’s now filing suit to get that money back, saying that he did it because he had no other way to get out of jail.

He agreed to settle the civil case after U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak jailed him in 2007 for contempt of court.

In Francis’ suit, he accuses Smoak of siding with former law partners to jail Francis and force him to settle on terms favorable to the girls. An attorney from a law firm where Smoak was once a partner represented the girls and their parents.

Smoak declined to comment on Francis’ allegations.

The judge ordered Francis jailed in 2007 after finding him in contempt of court. Attorneys for the girls said Francis yelled obscenities at them during a mediation meeting and refused to settle the case.

Francis now claims he was bulldozed into signing the settlement -by being jailed - and that it should be revoked.

The 35-year-old multimillionaire’s lawsuit states he understood that he “had no choice but to enter into the settlement in order to avoid further incarceration.”

Francis declined to say how much he paid, but described it as “a fortune.” He had previously told The Associated Press that the girls were asking for $70 million.

Robert Barnes, one of Francis’ lawyers, said the lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles because that’s where Francis and his company, Mantra Films Inc., are based.

Francis said his actions are intended to protect average citizens.

“This fight is way bigger than me,” Francis said in an interview after a press conference announcing the lawsuit. “If this stands, this single-handedly undermines the entire civil judicial process in this country.”

[From Popeater]

Francis concluded that “When a person is jailed without bail for 11 months in a civil lawsuit, it violates the US Constitution and our basic freedoms and liberties.” He never mentioned in his video that the judge used to be the partner of one of the lawyers representing the parents in that civil suit he was forced to settle, and that was a major oversight. People don’t know that detail and it adds a lot of credence to his claims.

People don’t really care that Francis was in jail for so long because he’s not a stand up guy by any means. He still faces Federal charges on tax evasion, and he was able to serve out his Florida sentence in a relatively cushy Nevada jail with Internet access and unlimited phone time because of the tax evasion charges. He’s also being sued by a Vegas casino for $2 million unpaid debts.

Francis shouldn’t have been in jail for nearly a year on contempt of court charges and it was pretty much extortion by that Florida judge, but if he was an average guy not profiting off drunken girls, or maybe if he just paid his taxes and debts - his case would seem more credible.

I love how Francis uses an American flag as his backdrop. He should have used the same tactic as the President and Presidential candidates and put well designed phrases in the shot like “Protection from unfair prosecution,” and “Freedom of speech for all.”

If there is one person in Hollywood who doesn’t deserve a break, even after serving prison time and being treated like a pariah by most of his old good-time party pals, it’s Joe Francis. This guy gives the term “scumbag” a new meaning, getting rich by preying on drunk college girls who will be ashamed and embarrassed for the rest of their lives. So any time I read about Joey Boy taking yet another financial beating, it pretty much makes my day. The Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas has been publicly pursuing several celebs with outstanding gambling debts lately, including NBA stars Charles Barkley, who owed the casino $400,000 and Alonzo Mourning. Now, they’re setting their sights on Francis, who allegedly owes the casino $2 million.

“Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis’ legal problems increased after the Wynn Las Vegas filed a $2 million lawsuit against him for unpaid gambling debts dating back to February 2007.

The Strip resort filed the suit Friday.

“As far as Mr. Francis is concerned, his obligations to the Wynn hotel have been fully lived up to per prior agreements,” a spokesman for Francis said today.

A Wynn Las Vegas representative declined to comment.

Francis is currently free on bail pending his trial on tax evasion charges in Reno. A trial date has not been set.

[From ReviewJournal.com]

Hey, look, the economy is rotten and these casinos are no doubt taking a beating right now. They can’t let these so-called high rollers rack up hundreds of thousands or even millions in debt and get away with it. These guys are lucky it’s not the old days of Las Vegas, or Joe would have a lot more to worry about than a lawsuit. Someone might come along and wreck those pretty fake teeth of his, or worse. Hey, I can dream, can’t I?

Joe Francis and Spencer Pratt are shown at the release party for the second issue of Girls Gone Wild Magazine on 6/4/08, thanks WENN photographer Rachel Worth.

Elliot Spitzer’s hooker Ashley Alexandra Dupre is suing Joe Francis and his Girls Gone Wild franchise for over $10 million in damages for releasing photo stills from a tape she made in 2003 when she was just 17. In the tape Dupre wears a backwards baseball cap and a bikini. She flashes her boobs for the camera, grabs herself and dances provocatively while guys surrounding her cheer. Dupre was on spring break in Florida and claims that she was given alcohol and “cajoled” into an appearance, although she certainly seemed willing at the time. She is suing for the use of her name and likeness on The Girls Gone Wild websites and promotional material, and according to People Magazine the tape was never released because she was just 17 at the time.

For his part Joe Francis says he’s “amazed” that she’s suing him because they are photos taken with many people present and he didn’t even release the tape since she was underage. He does say that it “doesn’t matter” if she was underage, since she showed false identification and claimed to be older:

“It is incomprehensible that Ms. Dupré could claim she did not give her consent to be filmed by Girls Gone Wild, when in fact we have videotape of her giving consent, while showing her identification,” Francis told Usmagazine.com…

“She’s seeking $10 Million for topless photos taken in front of a room full of people, including two newspapers and multiple crews we had in the room,” he said. “These images were taken in public places and contain no sexual contact. We expect to triumph in this matter and continue to offer the best and hottest girls.”

[From US Magazine]

While Dupre has not made a public appearance since the scandal broke 6 weeks ago, she has profited since the news got out that she was paid over $1,000 an hour for servicing former NY Governor Spitzer. Dupre has ambitions of becoming a pop star, and is said to have received over $200,000 for downloads of her songs.

The NY Daily News reports today that she has a new manager for her music career and is shopping around for a label that will have her. How convenient that she’s getting new press now for suing Girls Gone Wild. Her Myspace (warning: bad automatic music) has received over 10 million views.

Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis got out of jail after 11 months and “One of the Greatest Miscarriages of Justice Ever” to the sound of crickets chirping. He was soon back at work rubbing his grubby mitts together at the prospect of employing the hooker behind the Governor Spitzer sex scandal to represent his Girls Gone Wild titty-baring franchise. Francis offered 22 year-old Ashley Dupre a million bucks to tell her story in a non-nude photo spread and video for his company. Then Francis realized he already had footage of a then 18 year-old Ashley partying it up and taking it off during spring break on Miami Beach and he quickly rescinded his offer.

Francis described the four year old footage of Ashley as similar to “finding a winning lottery ticket in the cushions of your couch”

Francis will soon release a special video featuring Dupre, now 22, the alleged high-priced call girl linked to the downfall of Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

“I met her on spring break at the Girls Gone Wild beach house in April 2003,” Francis tells PEOPLE. “She got into the Jacuzzi. … She threw her arms around me. I never made the connection that this was Ashley. But my cameraman had been in touch with her for a while. I didn’t make the connection until really recently. Then it was like: that’s Ashley!”

As Francis told the Associated Press about that Eureka! moment: “It’ll save me a million bucks. It’s kind of like finding a winning lottery ticket in the cushions of your couch.”

[From People.com]

People is predictably tame in their coverage, but Gawker notes that Francis said he got “girl-on-girl action” footage of Ashley with another woman in a hotel room.

The NY Post had these screencaps from GirlsGoneWild.com and at 18, Ashley looked like a dork. She soon progressed from an awkward exhibitionist to a drunken prostitute, though, and the Post had some more photos out at a club last February, clearly blotto and getting groped by various guys.

Gawker has Ashley featured in a music video for rapper Mysterious, who then went on Access Hollywood and The Today show to talk about her and get some free publicity. And US Weekly is set to publish the cheesy modeling photos of Ashley shown below. [via Huffington Post]

Dupre is said to have made $200k from downloads of her songs, and while the Girls Gone Wild offer has been withdrawn she’s also been offered $1 million from Hustler and at least six figures from Georgi Vodka. She better cash in now while she has a chance as this story is quickly fading from the headlines.

You guys are going to rip me a new one, but Joe Francis had a point when he said that he was being unfairly prosecuted in Florida. Note that I am not saying he is blameless, that he didn’t rape a girl, that he isn’t a predatory douche, or that he shouldn’t have to pay steep fines and do years of backbreaking community service. I am also not claiming that he isn’t a sociopath.

Francis was in jail indefinitely for talking back to a judge
He wasn’t being prosecuted for raping that girl that didn’t come forward or attacking the LA Times journalist. He was being prosecuted for putting minors in titty films who he said claimed they were older. And even though the guy is richer than sin from getting girls drunk and convincing them to flash their boobs in exchange for a t-shirt with his logo on it, that doesn’t mean he should be put in jail for nearly a year for contempt of court. He was sentenced to jail in April of last for talking back to a judge during a civil lawsuit, and wasn’t allowed to be let out on bail during his appeal.

Judge who put Francis in jail for talking back had ties to the case against him, and to the sheriff’s department that Francis sued for seizing his stuff
And the Florida prosecutor that put Francis in jail indefinitely for swearing in court had direct ties to the lawyer who was suing Francis in the multi-million dollar civil suit for using minors in his films. It’s pretty clear that he had an axe to grind.

Judge Smoak is the ex-law partner of Ross McCloy, one of the lawyers seeking millions of dollars from Francis for the women in the case. They were both partners in a law firm called Harrison, Sale, Smoak and McCloy. Interestingly, Judge Smoak’s other law partner was Franklin Harrison, who was the attorney that represented the sheriff’s department when Francis successfully sued the sheriff’s department and won his jet back.

[From MeetJoeFrancis.com]

Instead of serving his time in the Panama City, Florida prison, where Francis was taunted by murderers, was said to be “weeping uncontrollably” and was busted for trying to smuggle in prescription drugs and bribe a guard, he chose to go to jail in Nevada, where he was wanted on federal tax evasion charges. He could have easily been bailed out of Nevada’s Washoe county detention center, but would have been immediately extradited to Florida. In Nevada he had phone and Internet privileges and a cushier jail experience.

So now Francis is out of jail in Nevada without fear of being extradited to Florida as he copped a plea. He will also get his stuff back that was seized in Florida:

Joe Francis has just finished a court appearance in Panama City, Florida, and he’s a free man, after agreeing to a plea deal that will keep him out of jail — and sources tell TMZ that Joe will be back in L.A. as early as tonight.

TMZ has learned that Francis has plead no contest to the charges of filming underage girls, and has been sentenced to time served. What’s more, “Girls Gone Wild” can’t film in the area for three years. Bay County, we’re told, will return Joe’s brand new Ferrari, and $60,000 that they confiscated from him last year.

Joe tells TMZ, “I am happy to be done with Bay County.” He’s been battling these charges since 2003.

[From TMZ.com]

Still facing tax evasion charges
Joe still faces federal tax evasion charges and I hope they run him into the ground. I also hope he doesn’t show his wide-mouthed mug all over LA now, but that seems inevitable. His celebrity friends were quick to distance themselves from him, and I wonder if he learned his lesson that Paris, Lindsay and company didn’t give a shit about him once he was in trouble. He’ll probably forgive them quickly for the sake of being able to get into decent nightclubs.

The guy needs to pay his taxes and should probably go to jail for that, and he’s surely a creep, but going to jail for 11 months for making titty films and talking back to a judge seems like enough punishment.

Francis’ tax evasion case is set to start on April 29. He should enjoy his freedom while he has it, because he could get up to 10 years for that case.

My heart really goes out to Joe Francis these days. I mean could the man who’s imprisonment is “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice ever” possibly get a fair shake? Naw. The man with the world’s most insincere smile seems to have a problem with not getting special treatment. He claims to have been brutally abused during his brief two week stay at the Grady County Law Enforcement Center in Oklahoma. He claims that he was denied food and blankets and threatened with being strapped naked to a chair for two days. It appears that he actually just had one of his contraband extra blankets confiscated, and they refused to special order his fillet mignon medium rare. And the strapping into the chair naked thing? I’m pretty sure that’s what Joe considers a good time, so I don’t know what the hell he’s complaining about. Okay the steak thing isn’t true, but the other two are.

The millionaire producer of the “Girls Gone Wild” video series has accused guards of abusing him during his brief stay at an Oklahoma jail, a newspaper reported Friday. Guards at the Grady County Law Enforcement Center denied Joe Francis food and blankets and threatened to strap him naked to a chair for 48 hours, Francis’ attorneys alleged last month in court papers seeking his release on bail in a Florida case, The Oklahoman reported.

Grady County officials denied the accusations, telling the newspaper that guards never threatened to strap Francis to a chair, that Francis had an extra blanket he shouldn’t have had confiscated and that his transfer was delayed because his family had somehow found out when he was to have been moved, creating a potential security risk.

“Mr. Francis was treated like every inmate that comes through the Grady County Law Enforcement Center,” jail administrator Shane Wyatt told the newspaper.

[From Yahoo! News]

I think that last sentence perfectly summarizes the problem here. Joe Francis was treated like everyone else, and not like the sexy rock star he is. And if I were Joe Francis and I looked into the mirror and saw my Alvin from Alvin and the Chipmunks face looking back at me all sexy and didn’t get special treatment for looking so good, I’d be pretty damn pissed too. Seriously, does anyone even care if Joe Francis gets shanked in prison? I didn’t think so. All his hissy fitting it just giving the rest of us more opportunities to make fun of him. And let’s be honest, with a face like that, he probably shouldn’t give us more fodder than we already have.

Some people are so delusional that it’s sad, like Britney Spears thinking she’s not crazy and/or a good mother. Then others are so delusional that it’s funny. Case in point: Joe Francis says that his incarceration is “One of the Greatest Miscarriages of Justice Ever.” I’ll wait while you stop choking with laughter. The man who got famous getting girls drunk and filming their boobies landed in jail last May when he decided he should make millions but not have to pay taxes on it. And you know what that is? That’s a miscarriage of justice! How dare Joe Francis be held to the same standards as the rest of us? It’s an outrage! Poor Joe! He only has a view of a 7-11. A 7-11 he can’t even go to. Can you believe that if you break the law, the government will actually take your freedom away? What is wrong with the world? [Shakes fists at the Heavens].

He attended lavish parties, dated Paris Hilton and counted Brad Pitt and Justin Timberlake as fans of his Girls Gone Wild franchise. But times have changed for Joe Francis — the 34-year-old, self-made multimillionaire. Since May, he’s been cooped up in a 12×7 cell at Reno’s Washoe County Jail for tax evasion charges.

“I can’t look out the window,” he tells Extra in an interview, airing Monday. “The only thing I can see is the 7-11 across the street, that’s too depressing for me. I try not the think about anything on the outside.” Francis could pay his $1.5 million bond as he awaits a federal trial slated for next year. But then he would face extradition to Florida, where he was jailed for a month in April for contempt of court in a civil suit brought by seven women who alleged they were underage when he shot them for his raunchy videos. (The federal charges had superceded the civil ones.) A judge refuses to grant him bail.

“I’m being persecuted by people in Florida, corrupt city officials, who’re pissed off at me for asserting my First Amendment right against them,” he told Extra. Francis compared himself to Hustler’s Larry Flynt, adding, “I’m obviously the target because I’m the figurehead of the company … I’m being persecuted for my stance on the First Amendment.”

[From Us Weekly]

Joe I think they’re pissed off at you for asserting that you don’t need to follow the same laws as everyone else. It has nothing to do with freedom of speech or desire to film a lot of boobies. Film away, asshat. But pay your taxes on it. Seriously, few things give me more satisfaction than knowing exactly what’s happening to you in prison right now as we speak. You know what else is a miscarriage of justice Joe? I’m going to go outside now. Because I can. And then I’m going to go to 7-11, and instead of just looking at it, I’m going to go inside and get a Slurpee. And I’m going to drink it, and relish the fact that you can’t. And then I’m going to go walk 13 feet without having to turn around, and relish the fact that you can’t do that, either. Hope you like prison nipples!

Joe Francis’ website, MeetJoeFrancis.com compared to Heather Mills’ website, youcare.com

In the comments on JayBird’s post about Heather Mills stupid TV rant on the media, I mentioned that she STFU and just start a website if she wanted to refute the supposedly false statements about her divorce details and shady character made by the British press. Well her sister started a website, and it’s just as confrontational and obnoxious as Mills’ personality. It’s a giant red flash monstrosity that attempts to fight tabloid fire with website fire, and will just blow up in Mills’ expensively-molded face.

Compare the design and wording on Heather Mills’ website to the masterpiece of Joe Francis’ well-designed and overly-narrative website. Francis is charged with using underage women in his Girls Gone Wild videos, with tax evasion, and with smuggling contraband into jail and trying to bribe a guard. The guy has been in jail for months, but he’s smart and he knows how to win over the public. He put out a professional-looking site that states the facts without attacking anyone. It’s too wordy and hard to get through, but he made a sincere effort even though it smacks of suck up like Eddie Haskell in a suit holding a cake.

Heather Mills goes apeshit mad on the Internet, just like in real life. Her website is designed to look like the tabloids that feed her anger, and the wording is characteristically super defensive and obnoxious. Instead of focusing on specific attacks against her, she tries to turn it into this general boycott of The Sun, as if they’re defaming average people instead of just celebrities. She calls the negative articles about her a “Human Rights Violation” in super-big red highlighted text. Even her domain name, youcare.com, makes it seem like everyone should be oh-so-worried about poor liar Heather and her widdle millionaire problems:

Human Rights Violation
There has been such a barrage of libelous articles printed against Heather that it became impossible to take action against every offending article and publication, as to pursue all of these in the courts would have been extremely expensive, emotionally exhausting and impossibly time consuming. This barrage of abuse constituted a human rights violation and has highlighted the need for greater protection of the individual in regards to their privacy in the British Justice System. Without this greater protection it seems our newspapers have become the propaganda machines of the powerful. There are however three outstanding libel actions against British Newspapers by Heather Mills.

[From youcare.com]

Get the fuck over yourself, Heather. If you would just make your skinny ass scarce for a while you could avoid the majority of the negative stories about you. As it is, you seem to get off on seeing your name in print even though it enrages you. If you didn’t have a cause to fight for, though, you would be super bored. That’s why you bait the press because you get off on the negative attention.

Check out some of these characteristics of bullies and see if it doesn’t describe Heather:

is a convincing, practised liar and when called to account, will make up anything spontaneously to fit their needs at that moment

has a Jekyll and Hyde nature - is vile, vicious and vindictive in private, but innocent and charming in front of witnesses; no-one can (or wants to) believe this individual has a vindictive nature - only the current target of the serial bully’s aggression sees both sides; whilst the Jekyll side is described as “charming” and convincing enough to deceive personnel, management and a tribunal, the Hyde side is frequently described as “evil”; Hyde is the real person, Jekyll is an act

excels at deception and should never be underestimated in their capacity to deceive

uses excessive charm and is always plausible and convincing when peers, superiors or others are present (charm can be used to deceive as well as to cover for lack of empathy)

is glib, shallow and superficial with plenty of fine words and lots of form - but there’s no substance

is possessed of an exceptional verbal facility and will outmanoeuvre most people in verbal interaction, especially at times of conflict

is often described as smooth, slippery, slimy, ingratiating, fawning, toadying, obsequious, sycophantic

[From BullyOnline.com]

Of course most of that could also apply to Francis, but he’s smart enough to realize that you can dress it up and hide it on the Internet.

Screenshot from MeetJoeFrancis.com

Joe Francis, the head of the The Girls Gone Wild franchise, has been in jail since February of this year on multiple charges including sexual performance with a minor in Florida and contempt of court. He started out in a Florida prison, where he was said to be experiencing anxiety attacks and weeping uncontrollably. He was transfered to a Reno, Nevada county jail on federal tax evasion charges where he is more comfortable and is said to be enjoying privileges including using the phone whenever he wants.

It looks like Francis has been able to use a laptop with high speed Internet in jail, because he’s launched a massive website touting what a nice guy he is and how much he has done for charity. He tells the story of how he was jailed and blames it entirely on circumstances and other people, saying that if it happened to him, it could happen to you, an average person who isn’t exploiting women for immense profit. Joe is trying to counter articles like this one, in which a journalist details how he assaulted and harassed her and raped an underage girl, which is currently the fifth Google result for his name.

The site is ridiculously detailed, and includes 18 pages of a thorough biography in which Francis expounds on his background, including being sent to boarding school at an early age and getting kicked out of military school in five days, something he brags about.

There is a certain kind of kid who actually enjoys military school. I hope I never meet that kid. For me, the academy was a preposterous and intolerable collection of arbitrary rules and silly, quasi-military posturing. I couldn’t take it seriously for a second. When we were rudely awakened at 4 a.m. and ordered out of our bunks, I turned over and said, “Forget it.” When a dorm sergeant took a brass belt buckle I’d just polished, spit on it, handed it back to me and said, “Do it again,” I tossed the buckle back to him and said, “ I already polished it. You want it polished again, do it yourself.” I was grabbed by the neck and marched to the school “commandant” for a disciplinary meeting. The commandant ordered me to stand at attention. I didn’t hear him; I was staring at the ribbons on his chest. “Something wrong, boy?” He asked. I shrugged. “I’m just wondering what all those little ribbons are for. You’ve never been in the actual military, so what are those? Pretend ribbons?”

The commandant stared at me for a long beat. I smiled back. He turned in his chair and picked up the phone. He dialed my parents. Without taking his eyes off me, he told them that their son had just set a new school record. “No one had ever been kicked out of this academy in just five days,” he said, scowling in my direction. My response was to slip my hands into my pockets, slouch even further, and give him back the biggest shit-eating grin I could muster.

[From MeetJoeFrancis.com]

In the 10 page FAQ section, he talks about his private jet, says he wants to have children someday and gives slick answers that reveal that he plays the game well but doesn’t really give a shit about anyone other than himself:

Q: Do you really have a private jet?
A: Yes. I took my first ride in a private jet about six years ago, and found the freedom of the whole experience so amazing that I bought a Falcon jet three weeks later. The first trip I took on my plane was to Lake Tahoe. I was 27, and my buddy Mark and I laughed the whole way like a couple of giddy frat guys. It truly is the only way to fly. Nine months later, I upgraded to a Gulfstream.

Q: What part of the country has the hottest girls?
A: My experience has been that anytime you go south of the Mason Dixon line, the girls seem to get more attractive. But I don’t think it really matters where you go because how many 19-year-old girls are ugly?

Q: Have you ever had your heart broken?
A: Sure, but it helps ease the pain when you get as much as I’ve gotten in my life.

Q: What’s next? Do you have any major goals?
A: My primary goal is to have a family. I see that as my next big challenge. I will always have business goals - it’s part of the game - but there isn’t one overriding accomplishment I am aiming for. In my view, a man who raises a happy and healthy family is far more successful than a man who has only managed to acquire wealth. So, in that sense, I hope my greatest legacy will be my family.

[From MeetJoeFrancis.com]

Amid all his verbal posturing he makes some very good points in the legal section as to why he should not be in jail and how he was unfairly targeted and made an example of by the judge. The most telling thing is the judge who sent him to jail for contempt of court used to be a partner of one of the lawyers suing him for millions:

It just so happens that Judge Smoak is the ex-law partner of Ross McCloy, one of the lawyers seeking millions of dollars from Francis for the women in the case. They were both partners in a law firm called Harrison, Sale, Smoak and McCloy. Interestingly, Judge Smoak’s other law partner was Franklin Harrison, who was the attorney that represented the sheriff’s department when Francis successfully sued the sheriff’s department and won his jet back.

The thing is, this revelation is on the fifth page of a ten page legal section after a lengthy introduction. He had a good idea to launch a PR campaign, but most of his message is lost amid all those excuses and words. He should have hired an editor as good as his web designer and provided bullet points to go along with those long ass stories.

Overall Francis comes off as a pompous, narcissistic self-absorbed jerk who thinks that he can talk his way out of anything. Being in jail for over six months has only strengthened the guy’s resolve to come out and make more money. He does have one fatal flaw, though - he really wants people to like him. He thinks that if we hear enough excuses come out of his mouth we’ll all come around to his side and realize that he’s just this likable entrepreneur who got where he is through hard work. Joe can talk all he wants because he’s just wasting his breath. It’s easy enough to see through the veneer to the slimeball underneath.

He may have been targeted by a vindictive judge, but he still didn’t pay his taxes and there are plenty of other allegations of rape and predatory behavior by the guy. He is in jail by his own arrogance and carelessness, and this time he’s not going to get out of it by talking a lot of shit.

You probably already heard that Joe Francis was on Howard Stern yesterday and talked a lot of crap, at Howard’s expected urging, about the famous women he’d slept with. He said Paris gave the best BJ, and according to people who listened to the show he claimed that Tara Reid was the worst in bed because she made him wear a condom. The recap on the Howard Stern website is cleaned up a bit and just mentions that Joe said Paris was the best in bed.

What’s revealing about the Howard Stern recap is that a tired, probably high Joe references the Paris Exposed site several times and urges people to go there:

Joe claimed he wasn’t happy that the Paris tapes were released, but both Howard and Robin thought he was behind their release. However, Joe promised that wasn’t the case and was planning on suing the tapes’ distributors. Joe went on to say the man behind the tapes tried to extort him for $7 million, and, when he refused to pay that, he then released the videos. Joe also noted he owned the copyright to the tapes, so, even if they were released, he thought he should be getting money from them.

Joe then acknowledged he had sex with Paris, but denied he was ever with Lindsay Lohan. As Joe again began fading out, Howard informed him he was “a sh*tty interview” this morning, but he responded it was because of his phone connection, not that he didn’t want to talk…

Joe continued to claim he wasn’t looking to make any money off the Paris videos, but wanted to stop them from being sold instead.

When Howard asked Joe who “the best” sexual partner he’s ever had was, he named Paris. Joe proceeded to suggest people visit the Website to watch his video so they could see how “good” she was themselves. This led Howard to point out that Joe had referenced the site a number of times during the interview, which he thought was another sign that Joe was behind it. However, Joe again denied any ties to the site.

So, he name-drops the site repeatedly, which is suspicious, but that might just mean that he still wants to cash in on the free publicity and that all this went down like Paris and Joe claim. Or does it?

I did a whois on the Domain ParisExposed.com, and it was registered way back in November, 2003.

Registrar: KEY-SYSTEMS GMBH
Whois Server: whois.rrpproxy.net
Referral URL: http://www.key-systems.net
Name Server: NS1.LEASEWEB.NL
Name Server: NS5.LEASEWEB.NL
Name Server: NS4.LEASEWEB.NET
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Updated Date: 30-jan-2007
Creation Date: 07-nov-2003
Expiration Date: 07-nov-2008

Those registration names just seem to be general registration companies that cannot be traced to the real creators of the domain, and it looks like there’s a privacy block on the domain. I did whois searches on Joe’s professional sites, including his business Mantra Entertainment at Mantraent.com and Girls Gone Wild at girlsgonewild.com, and there’s no connection between the dates or companies used to register the site.

Now, who would register the domain way back in 2003 if it wasn’t Joe? Wasn’t that when he was dating Paris?

If these people acquired Paris’ stuff recently, wouldn’t they pick a domain name that they wouldn’t have to buy off someone else, like ParisHiltonsMemories.com or ParisPrivateStuff.com or something?

There is a real lawsuit available through the Smoking Gun website, in which Paris files suit against the supposed people who created this site, Bardia Persia, who is said to have paid about $2,700 for the contents of the storage locker, and Nabil and Nabila Haniss, who are said to have paid Persia a whopping $10 million for the stuff and to have created the Paris Exposed site.

If you do a Google search for Bardia Persia, Nabila Haniss, and Nabile Haniss, there are next to no results if Paris and ParisExposed.com are filtered out.

Google search for: +”Nabil Haniss” -”Parisexposed.com” -”paris” : No Results
Google search for: +”Nabila Haniss” -”Parisexposed.com” -”paris” : 3 Results about Paris
Google search for: +”Bardia Persia” -”Parisexposed.com” -”paris” : No Results

If these people were totally savvy enough to buy all of Paris’ stuff and sell it online, don’t you think they’d have some other online information about them? They created this whole slick website. If they really exist, there would be some kind of Internet history available. Also, how did Francis find out their names? There’s no name attached to the domain at all.

The main thing that blows this whole “Paris was violated” story out of the window is the fact that the domain was registered in November, 2003!

Joe Francis made his dubious fortune through the subscription Girls Gone Wild videos. Of course he would try to profit from Paris’ stuff using a similar subscription model, and she’s undoubtedly perhaps behind it too.

In case you’re still skeptical, check out the near-identical wording on the Girls Gone Wild website and a recent e-mail sent to Paris Exposed subscribers

From Joe Francis’ Girls Gone Wild Website:

Q: What do I see if I join?

A: You will have full access to hundreds of video clips, thousands of photo sets, and live video streaming. Plus, you can see exclusive web content that’s too hot for any of our regular video titles! Membership is a great deal. Click here to join now.

Looking for the Ultimate Rush? How about the hottest college coeds and the sexiest girl-on-girl action you’ll find anywhere?

From an e-mail sent to Paris Exposed subscribers:

Thank you for joining ParisExposed.com, home of the Most Exclusive Content on the HOTTEST Celebrity of our time.

The Paris Exposed Website and its alternate IP, which was mailed to subscribers on Monday, are currently down.

Update: Thanks to commentor no-one for pointing out that people on the gofuckyourself.com (NSFW ads) adult webmaster forums were talking about this. The domain was legitimately sold to someone back in November of last year, and a commentor who seems like a well-known adult webmaster on that board mentions that he’s been getting flack for selling the ParisExposed domain that he originally owned.

As for who is behind it, I haven’t yet found the thread speculating on that. There are several threads about potential affiliate programs that the commentors say seem too good to be true.

It’s also possible that the wording that is so similar on the girlsgonewild and Paris Exposed material is just common terminology that is used in the adult web business.

I’m still not convinced, and I’ll keep looking to see if I can find more information on it.

Of course the site has been shut down now by judicial order, but it’s still possible that Joe Francis is silent business partners with these guys. Let me know if you have any more details.