Court filing: Paris Hilton in bizarre drug allegation

By Matthew Belloni

EXCLUSIVE: The litigation over a "tell-all" book written by a former "Girls Gone Wild" cameraman has revealed allegations that Paris Hilton once found a creative place to hide drugs. 

The book, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday in connection with the heated lawsuit between cameraman-turned-author Ryan Simkin and "GGW" founder Joe Francis, states that Francis once asked Simkin to deliver cocaine to his friend Hilton during a photoshoot for Seventeen magazine. Hilton was leaving for Europe, Simkin writes, and he alleges he brought her a little Camel cigarette box filled with cocaine and ecstasy for her trip.

"I asked if she was flying private, and she said, 'No, commercial.' And then as politely as I could, I asked her how she planned on traveling with that amount of blow and X," Simkin writes in the book. "She held the box in her right hand, and then with an underhand swoop like a lower case J, she demonstrated exactly how she intended to beat airport security. She even whistled as she did it. A little alley-oop with the Camel Box, straight up her snatch. Classic."

Read the threatening letter Joe Francis' lawyer sent over 'Piranha 3D'

By Matthew Belloni

 

  

How mad is "Girls Gone Wild" mogul Joe Francis at Jerry O'Connell's coke-snorting, kid-filming character who loses his penis to ravenous fish in this weekend's "Piranha 3D"? 

"I believe Mr. O'Connell may lose more than his penis (i.e., lots of money) if he and the Weinstein Co. choose to release this film and continue to falsely associate me with its questionable content,” Francis tells us.

Francis' lawyer Larry Stein sent the above letter to distributor TWC after O'Connell told the Daily Beast of his role: "I get to play Joe Francis! Oh, wait. For legal reasons I'm supposed to say, 'I play someone loosely based on Joe Francis.'"

The letter threatens that "any defamatory or disparaging statements, or depictions, in the media or in the film itself, or other statements that portray Mr. Francis in a false light, will be met with swift litigation."

Jury sides with 'Girls Gone Wild' in suit by sexy dancer

By Eriq Gardner

"Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis finally has a reason to throw one of his outrageous parties.

This week, a St. Louis jury found in favor of Francis' Mantra Films in a $5 million lawsuit brought by a woman who claimed that "GGW" had "damaged her reputation" by distributing a video of her dancing provocatively in a local bar. The jury found that although she didn't sign a release, she had no expectation of privacy by playing to the camera.

"This is just one more example of someone trying to make a quick buck off Girls Gone Wild by making false accusations against our company," Francis boasted in a statement. "At the same time, this is also another great example of someone who got their ass kicked in a court room by a smart judge and a smart jury who saw the truth. Girls Gone Wild will always vigorously defend ourselves against anyone who makes such outrageous and defamatory allegations. Girls Gone Wild has NEVER lost a jury trial."

Maybe. But Francis' legal record is far from unblemished. There was that tax evasion case, of course. And just this week, Francis' own law firm highlighted that Mantra allegedly owes money to consultants as the result of an arbitrator's award.

Woman wants $5 million for being humiliated in 'Real World' house

By Eriq Gardner

A woman who appeared on a recent episode of MTV's "The Real World" is suing producers for $5 million, claiming she was given 8 to 10 alcoholic beverages and ridiculed when she refused to have sex with one of the show's cast members.

The lawsuit, filed by Golzar Amirmotazedi against Viacom, MTV and Bunim/Murray Prods, alleges invasion of privacy, false light, disclosure of private facts and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. 

According to the complaint, after becoming heavily intoxicated, Amirmotazedi was taken in September to the Real World house off Dupont Circle in Washington DC. She says that in the early morning hours, she was thrown out of the home by cast members Andrew and Josh after declining to have sex with one of them. Later, she was portrayed on the show as "crazy," "weird," a "mess" and a "stalker" with emotional problems. Online commenters called her a "crack whore" and Andrew's "crazy stalker chick."

Judge SLAPPs Joe Francis, rules Playboy model's claims relevant to 'treatment of women'

By Eriq Gardner

"Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis has been given a SLAPP by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge in a defamation case that stemmed from him allegedly punching a Playboy model.

Former Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole was sued by the GGW mogul after she told TMZ that Francis "grabbed my hair and he punched me in the face ... he pushed me to the ground ... he kicked me in my stomach and my chest..."

Francis claimed Nicole had libeled and slandered him, as well as painted him in a false light. The case was somewhat ironic considering the number of times Francis has been on the receiving end of lawsuits by girls claiming exploitation.

Now judge Mark Mooney has granted Nicole's special motion to strike Francis' complaint (anti-SLAPP motions allow courts to dispose of cases on free speech grounds if they might squelch discussion of matters of public interest). Mooney ruled that Francis is "a public figure" whose treatment of young women (and the public discussion of that treatment) makes Nicole's allegations relevant to a matter of public interest. From the judge's ruling:

Joe Francis acknowledges he's 'a difficult client'

By Matthew Belloni

Everyone's least favorite softcore porn magnate copped a plea today to tax evasion charges, agreeing to pay $249,705 to hopefully end his criminal case and avoid more jail time. But Joe Francis gets some credit from us for throwing a shout-out to his latest group of attorneys in the statement he released:

"I want to thank Brad Brian, Greg Weingart, Susan Nash and the lawyers at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLC in Los Angeles, and David Houston in Reno.  The one thing I’ve learned about myself during this process is that I can be a difficult client, but they are a fantastic group of brilliant legal minds who recognized the truth when they saw it and had the passion to care about what happened to me."

Francis hasn't alway had the best relationship with his legal counsel, so it's nice to see him give credit where it's no doubt due.

Joe Francis accuses his own employees of going wild

By Eriq Gardner

"Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis is alleging another wild conspiracy.

Francis has faced major tax troubles over the last few years, including a felony case that accused the softcore porn mogul of deducting more than $20 million in phony business expenses. Now, after allegedly hiring investigators to look into the matter, Francis has fingered the cause of those troubles: an elaborate scheme run by his company's chief financial officer, Michael Barrett, the company's chief technology officer, Roman Pelikh, and the company's vice president of operations, Will L'Heureux.

According to a press release trumpeting a new multi-million dollar lawsuit filed against these individuals in Los Angeles County Superior Court, "the three went wild, filing and then approving phony invoices they wrote themselves."

Francis knows a thing or two about wild court cases. He once filed a whopper of a lawsuit alleging a conspiracy between a U.S. District Judge, the parents of underaged women, the judge's former law partners, and government officials in both the U.S. and Panama. He also accused his own lawyers of going wild too.

In his latest case, Francis has turned on three of the highest executives at Mantra Films, keeper of the "GGW" franchise. He alleges the three set up shadow companies including WMR Marketing (named after the first names of the perpetrators), CPI Telecom, Western PC Professionals and Office Trade Center. Francis says he has filed a police report, but no arrests have been made.

Joe Francis finds new lawyers, targets 'Girls Gone Mobile'

By Eriq Gardner

Joe Francis obviously loves wild girls. Perhaps as much as he adores lawsuits.

We love bizarre legal filings too, so we were saddened by the news last January that the softcore porn mogul and his lawyer had separated from each other. 

That divorce offered its own entertainment—who fired whom—but without a lawyer, Francis couldn't file lawsuits like the one alleging a conspiracy between a U.S. district judge, the parents of underage women, and the judge's former law partners in a plot to entrap him in a $70 million legal heist in Panama City. 

Where to go for our legal kicks if not for ol' Joe?

No fear. Evidently, Francis has hired a new legal team at Keats McFarland & Wilson, and it hasn't taken long for Francis to put his new lawyers to work.

Francis' Mantra Films has filed a lawsuit against several mobile content businesses and wireless providers, including giants AT&T and Verizon, for allegedly distributing content under a "Girls Gone Mobile" banner that allegedly violates Mantra's trademark on "Girls Gone Wild." 

The complaint is sketchy on the details of the business arrangements, but we'll give it some points for including the NC-17-rated trademark applications as evidentiary exhibits.

Joe Francis vs. his lawyers: Who, dare we ask, has gone wilder?

By Eriq Gardner

It's been awhile since we checked in on "the Bobs," the pair of Milwaukee attorneys who called themselves "legal mercenaries" to Portfolio magazine before hopping on a plane to hit it big in Hollywood. Last year, we wondered whether anybody in the entertainment community would bother putting Robert Bernhoft and Robert Barnes on their lunch schedule. 

Well, the Los Angeles Daily Journal today prints a front-page update on the Bobs in which disgruntled client Joe Francis of "Girls Gone Wild" fame calls them "swindlers," saying "The only reason they wanted me was to mooch off me and open up an L.A. office...The Bernhofts are the Paris Hilton of lawyers — just to be famous, not to do anything."

Them's fighting words. Bernhoft responded swiftly to the article, invoking the dreaded D-word in a statement to LA Observed. "Today’s Los Angeles Daily Journal story on Bernhoft Law’s representation of Joe Francis is ambush journalism at its worst. It turns a false premise – that Joe Francis allegedly dismissed Bernhoft Law for poor performance in Francis' tax case – into a lazy, false, and defamatory hit job."

True, THR, Esq. favorite Francis sees a lot of conspiracies in this world. And if Francis did ditch the Bobs, it wouldn't be the first time they've been let go without really being fired. After the two got Wesley Snipes acquitted on the major charges in the actor's tax evasion case, they were allegedly dismissed because they said they didn't want to be held responsible for Snipes' maximum prison term sentence on the misdemeanor counts.

 

But the real question here is, who cares? We're surprised the DJ gave Francis, not exactly a reputable critic of legal service providers, a venue to trash his attorneys. Lots of starry-eyed lawyers set up shop in LA hoping to land celebrity clients. And plenty of those lawyers end up getting kicked to the curb by those same celebrities, often for reasons that have little to do with the quality of the representation. 

 

That said, Joe Francis is a special breed. The Bobs probably should have known that when you take on a guy like Francis, you're probably going to end up as humiliated as the women in his videos. 

Joe Francis Complaint Alleges Panama City Judge and Former Law Partners Gone Wild

By Eriq Gardner

Looks like "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis is getting tired of being dragged into court. The public-nudity mogul has unleashed one whopper of a lawsuit alleging  a conspiracy between a U.S. District Judge, the parents of underaged women, the judge's former law partners representing the parents, and Bay County government officials. Francis seeks to rescind a settlement agreement he claims he was coerced into signing.

Here's the complaint, filed yesterday in Los Angeles County Court yesterday. Francis also held a splashy press conference to announce he hopes that Californian jurisprudence swipes down "southern justice gone awry." The complaint even introduces his case by saying his injustice is the same kind of tale that "Nina Simone sang about; William Faulkner wrote about it; historians teach about it."

Enough of the buildup.

Francis got in trouble when his film crew taped 17-year-old women in Panama City in 2003. He claims they entrapped him by pretending to be 18 or older.