Girls Gone Wild Exploiting Minors!

The man responsible for the “Girls Gone Wild” videos has pled guilty to exploiting minors and paid a fine amounting to 1.25 percent of his profits.

The California company responsible for the successful “Girls Gone Wild” series of videos has pleaded guilty to violating a federal law designed to prevent the sexual exploitation of children, the Justice Department announced today. Mantra Films Inc. of Santa Monica pleaded guilty to charges that it failed to create and maintain age and identity documents for performers in sexually explicit films that it produced and distributed. The company also failed to label its DVDs and videotapes as required by federal law, the Justice Department said.

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The companies, founded and owned by Joseph Francis, agreed to pay $2.1 million in fines and restitution. Of that, $1.6 million is to be paid by Mantra and MRA, and $500,000 by Francis.

The case is believed to be the first to be filed under a federal law designed to prevent the sexual exploitation of children, the Justice Department said. “This case sends an important message about the Justice Department’s commitment to protecting children from all forms of sexual exploitation,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Alice S. Fisher said in a statement. “Today’s agreements ensure that “Girls Gone Wild” will comply with an important law designed to prevent the sexual exploitation of minors and puts other producers on notice that they must be in compliance as well.”
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The “Girls Gone Wild” series is based on young women exposing themselves during the frenzy of spring break and at other times in hot locales. There is binge drinking, hookups and frantic exhibitionism. By packaging and dispersing the videos, people close to Francis told the Los Angeles Times recently that the company does as much as $40 million a year in sales.

It’s far from clear how drunken teenage girls flashing their boobs at cameras for money while on a weeklong Florida orgy can be exploited by sloppy record keeping, but I’m sure the Justice Department wouldn’t be wasting time that could be spent protecting us from terrorists and hardened criminals if this weren’t really, really serious.

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Girls Gone Wild Exploiting Minors!

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