HOLLYWOOD - The man behind the Girls Gone Wild video and DVD empire faces jail in Panama City after failing to appear in court for a mediation hearing.
A federal judge has ordered Joe Francis to surrender to authorities so he can begin serving jail time for contempt of court.
District Judge Richard Smoak insists Francis should be jailed until he agrees to participate in mediation talks aimed at ending a four-year-old legal battle between the media mogul and seven underage women, who sued the Girls Gone Wild boss after he filmed them in sexual situations.
Negotiations were set to begin last month but Francis stormed out of proceedings after verbally attacking lawyers. The media mogul then made a settlement offer for the plaintiffs to consider.
But Francis failed to appear at an emergency hearing on Wednesday, prompting Judge Smoak to raise the amount of money the Girls Gone Wild boss has to pay the plaintiffs' lawyers.
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