Girls Gone Wild mastermind Joe Francis remained in the wild Thursday, refusing a federal judge's order to surrender to U.S. marshals.

Francis failed to turn himself in by the noon deadline set by Panama City, Florida-based U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak, according to a court clerk. The justice had ordered Francis incarcerated for contempt of court, following an obscenity-laced tirade during settlement talks that fell through in a federal lawsuit.

Smoak had vowed to issue a warrant if 34-year-old soft-porn purveyor didn't show, but the court clerk said that as of closing time, no warrant was issued.

Either way, Francis' camp says he has no intention of turning himself in. Ronn Torossian, a spokesman for Francis' Mantra Films, called Smoak's order an example of "judges gone wild."

"We've all seen crazy Florida judges like in the Anna Nicole case but this one takes the cake. This case is about a number of girls who said they were 18 who lied about their ages and more than that there are no criminal allegations here," the rep told E! Online. "This is a civil court matter."

The guy behind such racy mail-order DVDs as Girls Gone Wild: Ultimate Spring Break and Girls Gone Wild: Dormroom Fantasies, was sued in 2003 by seven underage girls who claim they were wrongfully exploited in his lucrative Girls Gone Wild videos—a claim Torossian likened to "extortion."

He also blasted Smoak's objectivity in the case, asserting the judge's ties as a former law partner of plaintiffs' attorney Ross McCloy Jr. has made him biased in favor of the women.

According to the Panama City News Herald, Francis initially earned the judge's wrath by unleashing a string of expletives and threats at the plaintiffs' lawyers as both sides were about to enter into two days of mediation on Mar. 21. In Smoak's view, his outburst flouted the court's mandate to negotiate in good faith.

At a hearing last week, the judge found Francis in contempt and ordered him jailed until he was willing to play nice. Smoak also ordered Francis to cover plaintiffs' expenses for the scotched mediation.

Smoak temporarily suspended his contempt finding over the weekend after Francis agreed to resolve the lawsuit. But the proposed deal fell through—when Francis tried to change the terms—and Smoak blew his stack.

"He may have snookered us and gotten out Saturday," the judge declared, per the News Herald. "But he's coming back."

Smoak even suggested that Francis agreed to the initial settlement simply to get out of Panama City "to go to a ballgame." (Francis reportedly attended the Final Four NCAA basketball games Saturday night in Atlanta before flying to Miami to go clubbing.)

Torossian, meanwhile, didn't specifically deny the tirade, instead noting that Francis has never sat in the room with the girls' lawyers at any time in the case.

The Mantra publicist also claimed that Smoak had no legal justification for giving Francis the settle-or-go-to-jail ultimatum.

"To threaten someone with jail over a civil case is unheard of," he said, adding, "We've negotiated in good faith continually."

Torossian said Francis declined to turn himself in on Thursday until an emergency motion is taken up by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal in Atlanta. A ruling is expected Friday.

As for whether both sides will resume the aborted mediation, the rep indicated Francis was preparing for a fight.

"Joe wants his day in court where he will show that these girls are liars and illustrate that their dishonesty has caused damage to his company," said Torossian.

By now, Francis knows his way around a courtroom.

Francis pleaded guilty in December to federal criminal charges of failing to monitor the ages of the women in his videos following a 2003 shoot that included two 17-year-olds baring their breasts. He was sentenced to community service and ordered to personally pay $1.6 million in fines and publicly acknowledge wrongdoing. Mantra was fined an additional $2.1 million. He and his business empire copped a guilty plea to similar offenses in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in January.

Francis still faces state felony counts in Pensacola, Florida, for allegedly using underage performers in his DVDs, charges that could land him up to 40 years in prison if convicted.