‘Girls Gone Wild’ bankrupt

Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis has put his empire of naked drunk girl footage into bankruptcy protection, the Wall Street Journal reported. He's getting sued, but not by the young women whom he's creeped on with a camera. Instead, he's been facing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit from Las Vegas resort owner Steve Wynn, who charges that Francis failed to pay a $2 million gambling debt to the hotel during a 2007 trip.

But that debt has ballooned as Wynn started going after Francis in court.

More from GlobalPost: One in five British women under 30 plan to have unsafe drunken sex on vacation this summer

In September, Wynn  won a $20 million lawsuit against Francis for slander after he claimed the Las Vegas casino mogul threatened to kill him over the debt.

The bankruptcy case doesn't actually mention the lawsuit,  Bloomberg news reported. But the bankruptcy filing prevents Wynn from collecting the debt and will make a bankruptcy judge the new referee in the litigation, the WSJ explains. The company said it had about $16.3 million in debt and less than $50,000 in assets.

Help keep The World going strong!

The article you just read is free because dedicated readers and listeners like you chose to support our nonprofit newsroom. Our team works tirelessly to ensure you hear the latest in international, human-centered reporting every weekday. But our work would not be possible without you. We need your help.

Make a gift today to help us reach our $25,000 goal and keep The World going strong. Every gift will get us one step closer.