Hookers Reputation Damaged

Dupré filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court in Miami, claiming Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis and his company owe her more than $10 million.

Now 22 (turning 23 Wednesday), Dupré was a few weeks shy of her 18th birthday when she ran into Francis' film crew outside Miami Beach's Chesterfield Hotel in March 2003. They got her drunk and filmed her flashing her breasts in hotel rooms, according to the suit.

Francis, 35, who arrived in Miami on Monday to promote his new Girls Gone Wild magazine, told The Miami Herald he has ''never sold one'' video of Dupré and referred questions to his attorneys.

Francis repackaged the footage last month after Dupré emerged as a central figure in the high-priced prostitution scandal that ensnared New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, leading to his resignation. Investigators say Spitzer paid big bucks for sexual encounters with Dupré, who worked as an escort named ``Kristen.''

After her sudden notoriety, Dupré entertained million-dollar offers from Francis, Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and others who wanted to sell her photos and story.

But the Girls Gone Wild kingpin rescinded the offer when he realized he already had footage of her in his archives. Calling the video Hooker Gone Wild, Francis is advertising it on his websites -- including one called ashleydupre.net -- and inserting it in copies of the video empire's new magazine.

Dupré and her Miami attorney, Richard Wolfe, say Francis has profited from false advertising and unauthorized use of her name and images. They also say, at 17, Dupré was unable to make an informed decision about appearing in the videos.

Dupré's lawsuit claims Francis promoted the new videos by saying she was ''doing a lot of hot lesbian acts,'' which she says is false. The suit also accuses Francis of trying to get the public to believe Dupré ''is performing sexual acts'' in the videos. Not true again, she says.

''Defendants have adopted an advertising strategy to induce the public to believe Ms. Dupré is engaging in sexually explicit acts which is in fact false,'' Wolfe said in a statement.

Francis has caused ''substantial and irreparable injury to the plaintiff's business, reputation and good will,'' according to the suit.

''Defendants created the false impression that [Dupré] has endorsed and/or approves of the graphic, sexual content, including lesbian acts, contained in the video, which in reality she does not,'' the suit says.

Besides demanding more than $10 million in damages, Dupré's lawsuit also seeks to have Francis shut down the websites ashleydupre.net and girlsgonewildashleydupre.com.

Francis is no stranger to legal disputes.

He was recently released on bond from a Nevada lockup for a pending tax-evasion case, and he avoided a Florida jail sentence after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a 2003 Girls Gone Wild bust in Panama City Beach.

He has battled numerous lawsuits from young women who appeared in his films and later claimed they were underage or did not consent.

In Dupré's case, she claims she was too drunk and young to understand what she was agreeing to when she signed her consent before being filmed.

''At the time of these encounters, Dupré was 17 years old and therefore not legally competent to enter into a contract with the defendants,'' Wolfe said. ``At no time did Ms. Dupré give legal consent to defendants to use her name, image or likeness to promote or advertise the defendant's products.''

But Francis remembered a different story when the Dupré footage surfaced in his archive last month.

He said Dupré, a ''quintessential Girls Gone Wild girl,'' was sober during filming, and he personally sent her home on a Greyhound after catching her with a beer in her hand, a violation of company policy.

The federal prostitution case that thrust Dupré's name into the spotlight is working its way through the court in New York.

Four people who are accused of running the Emperors Club VIP -- an escort service with clients in Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Paris and London -- have pleaded not guilty. Neither Spitzer nor Dupré have been charged in the case, but Dupré has been subpoenaed to testify.

Dupré has become a household name since being revealed as ''Kristen,'' who federal agents recorded in a wiretap in an encounter with Spitzer at a Washington hotel.

An aspiring singer-songwriter, Dupré's online music samples have gained popularity, and her MySpace page has racked up more than 10 million views.