The US Justice Department announced Tuesday that "Girls Gone Wild" creator Joe Francis has plead guilty to charges involving "sexual exploitation of children". 

Up until last year, Francis was a regular fixture on the Bodog.com party circuit, appearing at the Bodog sponsored VMA P. Diddy party in Miami last year. 

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.

Mantra Films entered its plea agreement today before U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak in Panama City, Fla. A second related company, MRA Holdings LLC, also entered into an agreement.

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."

"This prosecution makes clear that those who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of our children's innocence in violation of the laws intended to protect them will be held to answer in federal court," U.S. Atty. Gregory R. Miller of the Northern District of Florida said.

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.

In the court papers distributed by the Justice Department, " 'Girls Gone Wild' admitted filming performers and producing and distributing sexually explicit video materials during all of 2002 and part of 2003 while violating the record keeping and labeling laws."

Specifically, Mantra Films pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to keep the required records and seven labeling violations.

MRA Holding entered into deferred prosecution agreement concerning the information filed in court charging the company with 10 labeling violations. As part of that agreement, the government will dismiss the charges at the end of three years if MRA Holding abides by all of its obligations, the Justice Department said.

MRA Holding also agreed to employ an independent outside monitor selected by the government and provide the monitor complete access to the books and records, production facilities and other locations required to ensure the company's compliance with federal law, the federal agency said.

No Stranger to Controversy

In an incident involving minors at Panama City Beach, Florida, during spring break 2003, Francis was arrested and then released on $165,000 bond. He was initially charged with 71 separate counts, including racketeering, drug trafficking, and child pornography. Police confiscated his private jet and other property.

At a July 27, 2006 hearing the judge threw out 200 hours of videotape and hundreds of other key pieces of evidence in the case.   As of August 2006, Francis still had 42 charges pending against him, including racketeering, prostitution, and conspiring to promote sexual performance of a child.

In March 2004, a Texas college student accused Francis of raping her in his Miami hotel room. She alleged that he had drugged her and had sex with her because she woke up the next morning in his bed and could not recall the events of the previous evening. Francis reported that he had consensual sex with the woman. The state attorney's office declined to press charges and noted that a blood test did not show any evidence of drugs.   Francis has sued his accuser for over $25 million for defamation.

In 2004 Francis was videotaped in sexually humiliating positions[6], while held at gunpoint, and was subsequently blackmailed according to a Radar article.[7] Joe Francis, in an interview on July 24, 2006, on The Adam Carolla Show, stated that he was in fact kidnapped, held at gunpoint, and later blackmailed for the tape, but denied rumors of him performing sexual acts on camera. He went on to state that he was only forced to say "something like" "I'm a homosexual." on the camera. The tape or a copy of it was recovered by the LAPD for use in the criminal trial of his assailant, Darnell Riley. On February 7, 2006, Riley pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in Corcoran State Prison.

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Alejandro Botticelli, www.gambling911.com (with extensive excerpts taken from Michael Muskal's piece in the LA Times)

Originally published September 12, 2006 5:56 pm ET