Bankrupt Girls Gone Wild producer Joe Francis has been arrested on a misdemeanor assault charge and remains in the Los Angeles Police Dept. (LAPD) Valley Jail in Van Nuys, pending payment of $20,000 in bail.
Francis, 41, was arrested May 16 at 7:20 p.m. at an office in the 10900 block of Wilshire Boulevard, according to LAPD West Division Sgt. Gary Levy.
He was placed under private person’s arrest after “a shoving and pushing incident” with an employee at the building where his production company had been based, Levy said.
The employee was not injured.
Levy said Francis had been at the location in defiance of a Stay Away order, issued by the Federal Bankruptcy Court. Levy said Francis intended to either retrieve or take photographs of personal property at the office.
Francis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2013. His creditors included casino mogul Steve Wynn, who was owed $10 million, and Tamara Favazza, a then-20 year-old student who successfully sued two of Francis’s production companies and was owed $5.8 million.
Levy said police would request Francis also be charged with violation of the federal court order to Stay Away.
Francis was booked into the Van Nuys jail at 10 p.m. Friday. An officer at the jail said he remained there early today.
