A lawsuit against "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis has forced the softcore video company he created to file for bankruptcy. The financial maneuver doesn't mean the company is out of business (yet), but it does need to protect itself from the $10 million debt Francis owes to Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn.

The short version of the story is this: Francis ran up a $2 million gambling debt at Wynn's casino, then publicly claimed that Wynn cheats his customers and threatened to kill him when he didn't pay it back. Wynn sued, and won a $40 million judgment for defamation. It was lowered on appeal, but Francis is still fighting the rest in court.

The bankruptcy doesn't mention the lawsuit, but does list Wynn as the company's biggest creditor (at $10.3 million) while also disputing that the debt claim is valid, since legally, Francis is not an owner, officer, or employee of any of the GGW entities. There might have been a time when the GGW empire could have written Wynn a check and been done with it, but DVDs of anonymous college girls taking off their shirts apparently don't sell as well as they used to. The company's filing list only $50,000 in assets.

Update: Here's the statement.

Yesterday several of the U.S. operating entities for Girls Gone Wild joined the ranks of companies like American Airlines and General Motors having sought reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy code. Girls Gone Wild remains strong as a company and strong financially. The only reason Girls Gone Wild has elected to file for this reorganization is to re-structure its frivolous and burdensome legal affairs. This Chapter 11 filing will not affect any of Girls Gone Wild’s domestic or international operations. Just like American Airlines and General Motors, it will be business as usual for Girls Gone Wild.

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Dashiell Bennett