NEWSWarrant Issued for Girls Gone Wild Creator
Feb. 2 2009, Published 8:55 a.m. ET
Girls Gone Wild founder and former Paris Hilton b.f.f. Joe Francis is wanted for arrest after he failed to show up at a hearing for a tax evasion case.
An L.A. court issued a bench warrant for Francis on Monday. He was supposed to show up to the hearing, which was set to deal with a request from Bernhoft Law Firm to withdraw as Francis' legal counsel.
U.S. District Judge S. James Otero issued the arrest warrant when Francis failed to show up for the hearing, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.
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Francis became a multimillionaire by selling videos of young women baring their breasts, usually at parties with free-flowing alcohol.
He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted in the tax evasion case, which was filed in 2007 by authorities in Nevada but transferred to L.A. because that is where he lives.
He is accused of claiming more than $20 million in bogus business expenses.
The tax trial is due to start in March.
