Joe Francis Slapped With $12 Million Fine: 'Girls Gone Wild' Creator's Fued With Casino Mogul Ends

It's bad news for Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis. After a trial that at one point included the appearance of Quincy Jones, he lost out on a case that saw him claim that Steve Wynn, the creator of some of Las Vegas classiest resorts, had threatened to kill him over a gambling debt.

Jones' involvement came about after Francis claimed that he'd told him about the threats and shown him a stack of emails containing them, something vehemently denied by Wynn. Indeed, much of the evidence that Francis provided was deemed bogus, according to CBS, and the jury came down on the side of the casino mogul, claiming that the prosecutor had slandered his defendant and knew it from the very start. If you thought that such an end to the disagreement would cause little more than a slap of the wrists and a request to stop bickering (this isn't the first time Wynn and Francis have been at loggerheads), then think again. Francis is being slapped with a $12 million fine plus punitive damages, in order to send a message that false statements that gain momentum across the internet will not be tolerated. We'll say.

Neither Wynn or Francis were there to hear the verdict, and it's unsure how much of an attendance they'll put in when the second part of the trial begins today (September 11th) to work out what the punitive charges will amount to.