Las Vegas- “Girls Gone Wild” mogul Joe Francis said Tuesday there was no criminal intent on his part to avoid paying his gambling debts to Wynn Las Vegas.

Francis contended the district attorney’s office, which is seeking a warrant to arrest him on felony theft and fraud charges, is being used by Wynn Las Vegas to “shake him down” for the money.

“They’re using the criminal justice system to extract a civil settlement,” Francis said. “Their allegation is absurd.”

The Sun reported Tuesday that the district attorney’s bad check unit has filed a criminal complaint against Francis for writing a $2.5 million check to the Wynn in February 2007 on a closed bank account to obtain gambling markers. The district attorney alleges Francis still owes the Strip resort $2 million.

But Francis said he owes considerably less money, and he insisted his Wells Fargo bank account held plenty of cash — when he wrote the $2.5 million check.

He provided the Sun with records that show the account wasn’t closed by the bank until May 2007 and Wynn didn’t attempt to deposit the check until this April, about 14 months after he had written the check.

Wynn spokeswoman Jennifer Dunne declined to comment.

But Chief Deputy District Attorney Bernie Zadrowski, who runs the bad check unit, defended the pursuit of the criminal case, saying it has been handled as thousands before it have.

“In my estimation, this case is no different than any other case,” he said.

According to Nevada law, Zadrowski said, there must be sufficient funds in a bank account when a casino attempts to deposit a check used to guarantee a marker — not when the check is written.

Casinos cash such checks as a last resort, he said.

“They deposit the checks when their efforts to collect the money are fruitless,” Zadrowski said. “The real issue here is that (Francis) hasn’t paid the markers. He doesn’t get free money.”