Joe Francis, despite having a net worth of $25 million, freed US and moved to live in exile in Mexico, to avoid lawsuits that could put him behind bars and even cost him much financially. Joe Francis is mainly known for being the producer of the Girls Gone Wild and Banned From Television. Moreover, he has been in several controversies, including lawsuits that have even pushed him to live in exile. More about his life and career is detailed in this post.
Biography of Joe Francis
Joe Francis is an film producer and an American entrepreneur. He was born on April 1, 1973. He attended different boarding schools and furthered his studies at the University of Southern California, where he graduated in 1995.
Talking about his relationships, Joe dated his long-term girlfriend, Abbey Wilson. She was part of the girls featured in Joe Francis’ Girls Gone Wild film. In 2013, Abbey’s iPad was leaked and it contained sex tapes of her with Joe.
The two then welcomed their twins in 2014. However, the parents didn’t raise the children together as Abbey took custody of them, following arguments with Joe. In 2021, Joe stated that he had lost contact with his twins. No other information about the relationship status of Joe Francis is available.
Joe Francis’ Career
Joe started his career working for Real TV as a production assistant. It was during this time that he thought about the Banned from Television concept and went ahead to license and use unused footage to create the film showing unfiltered videos of fatal accidents, motorcycle crashes, executions, and other scenes.
However, he soon found the work disturbing and that’s when he came up with the concept of Girls Gone Wild. He created it in 1997 and the show was all about showing videos of young women exposing their bodies.
Within two years, Joe had earned $20 million form the show. The company had generated hundreds of millions in revenue. However, legal battles came knocking.
Joe Francis’ Legal Battles
The Girls Gone Wild faced legal battles following allegations that he had filmed girls without their consent. Francis was forced to plead guilty on different accounts and spent 339 days behind bars and a fine of $60,000.
Over the years, multiple women have sued him for filming them without permission, including minors. Joe has many lawsuits that he could be facing and that have destroyed his career. To stay safe and evade the legal battles, he moved to live in exile in Mexico. That’s the only way he can remain a free man while enjoying the proceeds of his show.
Joe Francis’ Net Worth
Despite the controversies that Joe faces due to his career and show, he managed to exit with a net worth of $25 million. He now lives in exile in Mexico, where he has a custom-built mansion worth $10 million.
We are watching to see whether he will return to US and what impact on his wealth, the pending lawsuits will have on him.
