Joe Francis Update: Judge Must Watch Girls Gone Wild Footage

Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis finds himself again at the center of courtroom drama.

A Florida judge wants footage to be turned over to the court so he can watch Girls Gone Wild footage at the center of a lawsuit filed last year. The judge needs to watch the Girls Gone Wild footage in order to decide on the defendant's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, the AP reported.

Last year, four women filed a suit claiming they were ages 13 to 17 years old when they were filmed in stages of undress or engaged in sexual activity by Francis' company.

The plaintiffs are now adults. Francis' attorneys want the case thrown out and the women's attorneys want him to pay.

U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak recently ordered all relevant videos be handed to him so he can make a final ruling on the motion by Francis' lawyers. 

The motion relies on the plaintiff's actions in the videos, the judge said.

As previously discussed, the soft porn mogul struck a plea deal for two misdemeanor counts of filing false tax returns and one count of bribing Nevada jail workers with goods in exchange for food.

He acknowledged omitting more than $500,000 in interest income on his 2003 tax return and said he gave more than $5,000 in goods to a pair of Nevada jail workers.

Under the deal he was required to pay $250,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service under the plea deal.

Francis promised U.S. District Judge S. James Otero to stay out of trouble and get back to work building the "Girls Gone Wild."

But keeping that promise may be a lot easier said than done.

A trial is scheduled for February.

Francis' motion argues the actions on film did not violate Florida law.

• Girls Gone Wild founder due back in Fla. court  (USA Today)
• Joe Francis Tax Case: Girls Gone Wild Founder Gets Plea Deal (FindLaw's Celebrity Justice)
• Joe Francis sues Brody Jenner's girlfriend Jayde Nicole   (Charlotte Examiner)