Bankruptcy judge suggests arrest of ‘Girls Gone Wild’ founder Joe Francis

Joe Francis could be headed for a jail cell. Again.

The “Girls Gone Wild” founder, famous for tempting intoxicated spring-breakers to mug for cameras topless and French kiss their friends in videos he’d later make millions from, could now be the subject of an arrest warrant for repeatedly violating court orders issued as part of his company’s bankruptcy proceedings.

On Monday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sandra Klein suggested a warrant be issued for Francis’ arrest, court filings show. She said it was unclear whether she had the power to issue an arrest warrant.

Since the proceedings began in 2013, Francis has failed to pay numerous court-ordered sanctions, return a car to the bankruptcy trustee handling his case and made violent threats against employees of the trustee, according to a 95-page filing.

Francis owes nearly $85,000 in legal fees to the bankruptcy trustee and $65,000 in sanctions for refusing to return the car, filings show. Francis was also barred from interacting with the bankruptcy trustee tasked with managing “Girls Gone Wild”’s assets, but has repeatedly violated that restraining order, the judge said.

“This court has imposed monetary sanctions and ordered Francis ... to return the vehicles immediately to the trustee, without success,” Klein wrote. “In light of the uncertainty regarding this court’s authority to issue an arrest warrant as a civil coercive action the court is left with no alternative but to refer this matter to the district court for further proceedings.”

The filing is the latest in a series of legal troubles and disturbing allegations against Francis, who was sentenced to 270 days in jail last year after he was convicted of false imprisonment and assault in a 2011 incident.

In 2003, he was accused of filming underage girls for his series and paying two teenage girls $50 each to touch his penis. In 2008, he pleaded no contest to prostitution and child abuse charges when he again allegedly tried to pay an underage woman for a sex act.

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for breaking news