Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis has put his risqué empire into chapter 11 protection to keep Steve Wynn's Las Vegas resort from picking at those assets to satisfy a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Francis put GGW Brands LLC and other companies related to the brand under chapter 11 protection on Wednesday, listing a $10.3 million debt as disputed in the 12-page bankruptcy petition. Wynn’s resort has been chasing Francis for years after he failed to pay a $2 million gambling debt to the hotel during a February 2007 trip. In 2012, the resort got a $7.5 million judgment for defamation "stemming from Francis's public attack falsely accusing Wynn of deceiving customers," according to the resort's lawsuit.
