Bankruptcy Judge Sanctions Girls Gone Wild Founder Joe Francis

In this Sept. 7, 2012, file photo, Joe Francis attends the House of Hype Music Awards at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Arnold Turner/Associated Press

Your move, Joe Francis.

A federal judge has slapped the Girls Gone Wild founder with a daily fine of $5,000 until he returns two luxury cars that belong to the porn business, whose famous brand was recently sold out of bankruptcy.

The fines, which started on Friday, came after Judge Sandra Klein didn’t buy Mr. Francis’s explanation for why he hasn’t returned the 2007 Cadillac Escalade or a 2012 Bentley Flying Spur.

Mr. Francis had said in court papers that he was “powerless” to return the autos after a Mexican strip club owner—angry that several Girls Gone Wild promotions fell through—took the vehicles.

Mr. Francis is appealing the sanctions. His attorney said in an email that the court decision is “outside the scope of proper civil contempt sanctions.”

Judge Klein set a July 31 hearing to see whether the cars have been returned.

“If they have not, the court will consider what additional sanctions, if any, including issuance of arrest warrants for Francis…might be appropriate,” according to Judge Klein’s 31-page order filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles.

Bankruptcy lawyers also won approval to bill Mr. Francis for the expensive legal headache he caused by visiting Girls Gone Wild’s former headquarters twice in May.

Last year, Judge Klein banned Mr. Francis from the Los Angeles building after he allegedly threatened some employees. But on May 9, as workers were preparing to move to a new location after the brand’s sale, Mr. Francis went to the building to take pictures of his office to ensure that none of his stuff got lost in the shuffle, according to his court statement.

The office was locked, and Mr. Francis left after hearing the police were on their way, according to court papers. But he returned on May 16, and that’s when lawyers said that he threatened a newly hired security guard, called an executive of Girls Gone Wild’s new owner some names we can’t publish here and yelled at workers.

The Girls Gone Wild brand went up for sale after the business’s operations filed for Chapter 11 protection in February 2013. At the time, the maneuver was meant to block Las Vegas entertainment kingpin Steve Wynn and his resort company from taking the companies’ assets as repayment for Mr. Francis’s gambling debts—a debt that had climbed to more than $30 million.

Write to Katy Stech at katy.stech@wsj.com . Follow her on Twitter at @KatyStech .

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