Joe Francis $500,000 Warrant: 'Girls Gone Wild' Founder Skips Court Date

A $500,000 arrest warrant has been issued for Joe Francis, the founder of “Girls Gone Wild.” The 41-year-old film producer skipped a Friday court date in Los Angeles, where he faces assault charges.

In May, Francis got into a fight with a security guard and employee at “Girls Gone Wild” headquarters that involved “pushing and shoving,” police said. He faces seven misdemeanor counts, and spent the night in jail as he also violated a restraining order requiring him to stay away from the building, TMZ reports.

Francis told TMZ at the time that the restraining order was no longer valid, and that the employee he allegedly fought with was the new owner of "Girls Gone Wild" and had a "business vendetta" against him. He also alleged that the security guard "manhandled" his pregnant wife.

Francis is accused of trespassing, battery, disobeying a court, and making criminal threats, Frank Mareljan, spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorney told the LA Times.

This is not the first time Francis has gotten himself in legal trouble.

Last August, Francis was ordered to spend 270 days in jail and nearly three years of probation for charges stemming from an incident at his Bel-Air, Los Angeles, mansion in 2011, according to the Hollywood Reporter. He was also ordered to undergo one year of psychological counseling as well as an anger management course.

Francis also met three girls at a Hollywood nightclub in January 2011 and took them back to his house. He allegedly refused to let them leave and became violent, choking one of the women and slamming her head onto the tile floor four times. Francis was convicted of one count of assault causing great bodily injury, three counts of false imprisonment and one count of dissuading a witness from reporting.