Founder of ‘Girls Gone Wild’ loses try for bail

RENO -- A federal judge has rejected a motion by "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis that would have allowed his release from a Nevada jail without fear of being sent to Florida, where he faces charges related to filming underage girls.

U.S. District Judge Brian Sandoval, in a ruling filed late Wednesday, denied arguments by Francis' lawyers, who claimed that a previous ruling by a federal judge in Florida gave the Nevada court jurisdiction over Francis until after he is tried on tax evasion charges in the Silver State. The lawyers argue that his continued detention has made it impossible for Francis to help them prepare for his trial on the tax charges.

Francis, 34, has amassed a fortune marketing videos of young women posing bare-breasted and in other provocative poses.

He has been jailed on both sides of the country for nearly a year, caught in a legal tug of war between federal prosecutors in Nevada and state attorneys in Florida, who have a no-bail warrant for his arrest related to the filming of underage girls in 2003.

Francis has been jailed since April when U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak in Florida sentenced him to 35 days in jail for contempt stemming from an outburst during court-ordered mediation in a civil suit, also related to the Florida filming.

After Francis completed his contempt sentence, Smoak ordered the filmmaker extradited to Nevada to face the federal tax charges.

A federal grand jury in Reno in April indicted Francis and his companies, Mantra Films Inc. and Sands Media Inc., on tax fraud charges.

The tax trial is set for August.