'Girls Gone Wild' Founder Claims Extortion Plot After Being Beaten, Robbed in Mexico

Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis claims he's being extorted after being the victim of two "violent crimes" earlier this year. In the first alleged crime, Francis says his bodyguard conspired to have him beaten and robbed near his home in Mexico. In the second, he says the hospital where he went for treatment kept him in a medically induced coma for two weeks without his knowledge or consent. The veracity of his story could not be immediately verified.

Now, he said the bad actors are attempting to use the photos of his injuries to blackmail him, so instead he's chosen to release them on his own.

Francis detailed the ongoing ordeal in a pair of Instagram posts, in which he also shared the photos. He writes that it all started back on March 19, 2024. He was jogging near a golf course inside his gated community in Punta Mita, tailed by his bodyguard driving his Mercedes, about 500 yards from a home owned by Bill Gates. Out of nowhere, he says eight masked men jumped him at gunpoint, beating him up and robbing him.

With the help of his bodyguard, he says the men drove him back to his house where they were let in by security, in what was clearly an inside job. After robbing his home, while he remained bound and gagged, Francis says his bodyguard drove away with the assailants, also stealing his car. When he finally managed to free himself, Francis claims he was refused help by the resort's security and instead had to walk a mile to the local hospital. Once there, police were called, who allegedly took the photos of his bruised and beaten face and body.

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Although a toxicology report turned up no trace of drugs and alcohol in his body, and he sustained minor fractures, cuts, and bruises in the attack, Francis says he was drugged without his consent and woke up two weeks later, "not being able to walk and not knowing what happened."

He says he initially thought he was paralyzed because he had no feeling from the neck down, and that hospital employees lied and told him he had arrived at the hospital unconscious and they'd saved his life. "This was a total lie," Francis continued, suggesting that instead, he was kept on a potentially deadly cocktail of drugs so that the hospital could collect the insurance money.

However, after his insurance refused to pay, Francis was ostensibly revived, at which point he says it took him six days of physical therapy before he could walk again. He also claims that his insurance company has since sued the hospital and that the doctors involved have allegedly been charged with attempted murder, medical fraud, and kidnapping. Lastly, he added that his bodyguard was still on the run.

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Francis has been residing in Mexico since at least 2015, as there's an outstanding warrant for his arrest in the United States for failing to comply with terms of a bankruptcy agreement. At least two federal judges have called for his arrest, with one recommending jail time, per reporting from the Wall Street Journal in May 2015. However, because extradition treaties between the U.S. and Mexico are not applicable for civil contempt warrants, Francis has remained a free man.

Of course, the latest are among a slew of criminal charges Francis has faced throughout the years, including racketeering, tax evasion, blackmail, false imprisonment, child abuse, and prostitution.