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'Wild' founder gets scolding, avoids jail time

By TIMES WIRES
Published December 14, 2006

The multimillionaire founder of the popular Girls Gone Wild video empire was sentenced to community service on Wednesday in Panama City, Fla., after the company pleaded guilty to federal charges of failing to monitor the ages of the women it films. Mantra Films Inc. also agreed to pay $1.6-million in fines for using drunken 17-year-olds in videos it filed on Panama City Beach during spring break and failing to properly label its DVDs and videos as required by federal law. U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak told company founder Joe Francis he added the community service to the fine because it did not appear a fine would be a meaningful punishment to the 33-year-old Francis, who makes an estimated $40-million a year. "It does not take a very brave man to go out and corner a girl in the middle of spring break who had four drinks," Smoak told Francis.

Bones halt Trump condo construction

The City of New York halted excavation work at the site of a new Donald Trump condominium tower in SoHo after human bones, apparently from a 19th century church graveyard, turned up, officials said Wednesday. The city Buildings Department issued the stop-work order Tuesday after workers found the bones. Spokeswoman Jennifer Givner said Buildings Department officials were meeting with the developer and an archaeologist from the city Landmarks Preservation Commission to discuss the next move. Historic maps show there was a Presbyterian church on a corner of the site, said Julius Schwarz, an executive vice president with the Bayrock Group, managing partner for the developer.

MGM ready to roll the dice on China

MGM Mirage, the world's second-largest casino company, is in talks to form a joint venture with Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing aimed at developing luxury hotels and resorts in China. The companies plan to complete the agreement in the first quarter of 2007, Las Vegas-based MGM, owner of more than 20 casinos in Nevada, Mississippi, Illinois and New Jersey, said Wednesday. This would be the second alliance MGM has announced this month with overseas partners to capitalize on growth in international markets. MGM said on Dec. 6 that it formed a joint venture with Mubadala Development Co. of the United Arab Emirates to develop hotels and resorts without gambling in Abu Dhabi, Las Vegas and the United Kingdom.

[Last modified December 13, 2006, 23:21:20]