LAT's damning profile of Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis

A terrific piece by Claire Hoffman in today's Los Angeles Times -- here are the opening few grafs, but don't miss the last:

Joe Francis, the founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" empire, is humiliating me. He has my face pressed against the hood of a car, my arms twisted hard behind my back. He's pushing himself against me, shouting: "This is what they did to me in Panama City!"

It's after 3 a.m. and we're in a parking lot on the outskirts of Chicago. Electronic music is buzzing from the nightclub across the street, mixing easily with the laughter of the guys who are watching this, this me-pinned-and-helpless thing.

Francis isn't laughing.

He has turned on me, and I don't know why. He's going on and on about Panama City Beach, the spring break spot in northern Florida where Bay County sheriff's deputies arrested him three years ago on charges of racketeering, drug trafficking and promoting the sexual performance of a child. As he yells, I wonder if this is a flashback, or if he's punishing me for being the only blond in sight who's not wearing a thong. This much is certain: He's got at least 80 pounds on me and I'm thinking he's about to break my left arm. My eyes start to stream tears.

This is not what I anticipated when I signed up for a tour of Joe Francis' world. I've been with him nonstop since early afternoon, listening as he teases employees, flying on his private jet, eating fast food and watching young women hurl themselves against his 6-foot-2-inch frame, declaring, "We want to go wild!"

Link to LAT story. Photo: Mr. Francis in his native environment, shot by Claire Hoffman. Mark Ebner at Hollywood Interrupted has been posting other Francis-related yuckiness for some time; these are the yuckiest allegations yet. (thanks, Cyrus Farivar)

Reader comment: Kent Williams says,

While you can't blame a traffic accident on GGW, well... Either just before or just after the events in Chicago described in the LATimes article, the Girls Gone Wild bus collided with a man on a bycycle. As far as I know, the guy is still in the hospital, but the GGW bus left town as soon as the police let them. Link to news story.