LOS ANGELES (AP) The company behind the "Girls Gone Wild" video empire has filed for bankruptcy in a move it says is an effort to restructure its legal affairs after several disputed court judgments.
GGW Brands LLC and several subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday in Los Angeles, listing more than $16 million in disputed claims.
The largest claim is $10.3 million that Wynn Resorts Limited is seeking from the company for judgments entered against "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis over a gambling debt and statements he has made about the casino and its founder, Steve Wynn.
The figure does not include a $19 million judgment Wynn won against Francis in a slander trial last year. The case, which centered on Francis' claims that Wynn threatened to kill him over the gambling debt, is being appealed.
Francis no longer GGW Brands, which has made a fortune selling videos and magazines of young women flashing their breasts. Subsidiary companies GGW Magazine and GGW Events have also filed for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy proceedings generally halt efforts to collect judgments in other courts.
"Girls Gone Wild remains strong as a company and strong financially," the company said in a statement, likening itself to other businesses such as American Airlines and General Motors that have filed for bankruptcy to restructure. "The only reason Girls Gone Wild has elected to file for this reorganization is to re-structure its frivolous and burdensome legal affairs."
The second largest claim listed in the proceedings is a nearly $5.8 million judgment a St. Louis woman won against Francis last year in a Missouri court. Tamara Favazza sued after she learned she had been featured on a "Girls Gone Wild" DVD over an incident when she was a 20-year-old college student and someone lifted her tank top at a bar and flashed a camera.
Francis and his company, Mantra Films, are seeking to have the judgment overturned in federal court.
The bankruptcy filing also lists unspecified legal fees in the Wynn and Favazza cases.
Blog List
-
Kaley Cuoco Shows Off Fit Physique In Skin-Revealing Yoga Outfit - By Suzy Byrne Kaley Cuoco leaving yoga class in L.A. on Monday. (X17online.com)Kaley Cuoco gave new meaning to hot yoga on Monday when she emerged from cla...
10 years ago
Popular Posts
-
WARSAW, Poland (AP) In Poland, speaking out in parliament is a privilege mostly reserved for lawmakers, but the opposition has skirted that ...
-
HELENA, Mont. (AP) A northwestern Montana man shot and killed the host of the Sportsman Channel show "A Rifleman's Journal" in...
-
By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - More than a third of all women worldwide are victims of physical or sex...
-
By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) - The three Cleveland women found alive after vanishing in their own neighborhood for about a decade wer...
-
Justin Bieber is going to space, and he may even shoot a music video in the final frontier. The teen pop star is the latest celebrity to sig...
-
BlackBerry 10 One of the main concerns surrounding Research in Motion s ( RIMM ) upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system ...
-
By Dave Warner PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - NASCAR driver Jason Leffler died from injuries suffered when his car slammed into the wall of a dirt...
-
Environmental activist Erin Brockovich, portrayed by Julia Roberts in a 2000 movie about her fight over the pollution of a California town, ...
-
REDLANDS, Calif. (AP) After spending nearly a half-century as husband and wife, Bob and Norma Clark are finally married. The couple from Red...
-
LONDON (Reuters) - British Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet has married for the third time, her publicist confirmed on Thursday. The 37-...
