Joe Francis
Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis is threatening legal action after a sex tape starring him was leaked.

Just weeks after he was found guilty of false imprisonment and assault, showbiz entrepreneur Joe Francis is at the centre of sex tape scandal.

According to TMZ, an X-rated video of the bankrupt Girls Gone Wild entertainment franchise founder has been leaked and is being shopped around to big porn companies in Hollywood.

Francis allegedly appears in the tape with long-time girlfriend Abbey Wilson, winner of the 2012 GGW Search for the Hottest Girl in America contest.

The 40-year-old businessman claims that the footage was stolen from Wilson and is said to be threatening to take legal action against anyone who releases it.

"It is not only unfortunate, but it is a crime. As such, this office will take all necessary steps to determine who in fact has done this and who is attempting to distribute the video," Francis' lawyer, David Houston, told TMZ.

"When we catch you, we will see that you are prosecuted to the fullest extent of both the criminal and civil laws."

The sex tape scandal follows a dramatic few months for the businessman.

In May, he was found guilty of false imprisonment and assault stemming from a 2011 incident in which he attacked a woman at his mansion. She was one of three he had taken home that night from a Hollywood nightclub and he was prosecuted for attacking her and slamming her head into the floor.

He is due to be sentenced in July.