Girls Gone Wild Goes Bankrupt

Looks like eternal (and rapey) spring break is over: “Girls Gone Wild” is filing for bankruptcy in an attempt to “restructure its legal affairs after several disputed court judgments,” according to the New York Times.

GGW Brands LLC and several subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday in Los Angeles, listing more than $16 million in disputed claims that read like a “Worst Of” list recapping the video empire’s seediest moments. Wynn Resorts Limited is seeking the largest claim: $10.3 million against notorious sleazeball founder Joe Francis (who no longer owns the company) over a gambling debt and statements he has made about the casino and its founder, Steve Wynn. That number doesn’t include a $19 million judgment Wynn already won against Francis in a slander trial last year based on Francis’ claims that Wynn threatened to kill him over the gambling debt. It’s like the Old West, if women were pressured to flash their boobs at the local saloon!

The second largest claim is a nearly $5.8 million judgment Tamara Favazza won against Francis last year in a Missouri court; she sued after she learned she had inadvertently appeared on a “Girls Gone Wild” DVD one night when she was a 20-year-old college student and someone lifted her tank top at a bar and flashed a camera.

“Girls Gone Wild remains strong as a company and strong financially,” the company said in a statement. “The only reason Girls Gone Wild has elected to file for this reorganization is to re-structure its frivolous and burdensome legal affairs.”

AKA: We don’t want to pay for our sins of our violently misogynist founder.

The company may claim it’s as strong as ever, but when’s the last time you saw one of those infomercials?

[NYT]