“Girls Gone Wild”, along with several of its subsidiaries, will be going into Chapter 11 after the heads of the company filed for protection to keep their assets from being taken over by a Las Vegas casino.
The company found mega-success in the late ’90s after creator Joe Francis merged real college girls on spring break with late-night infomercials, selling millions of videos and DVDs. Francis, according to the court documents, has been in a battle with Wynn Las Vegas Casino and Resort over a multi-million dollar gambling debt, and the casino has been trying for years to collect. The bankruptcy filing would effectively stop them from acquiring the “Girls Gone Wild” franchise.
“Wynn has confirmed what it has long suspected, namely that Francis has avoided Wynn’s collection efforts by, among other things, not taking any income and using accounts held by various entities that do business under his ‘Girls Gone Wild’ brand to pay all his personal expenses,” Wynn lawyers said in the lawsuit.
Ronald D. Tym, an attorney for the GGW brand says that Francis is no longer an employee or owner of the company, however, and has nothing to do with the bankruptcy suit. Court documents were filed by Chris Dale, who manages the company. Tym told Gawker that the “Girls Gone Wild” brand wouldn’t be affected by the filing and that the products will still be available to customers.