The former CEO of fashion giant Abercrombie & Fitch has been arrested on sex trafficking charges following a major FBI investigation.
Mike Jeffries, his partner Matthew Smith and another alleged middleman were arrested on Tuesday morning in connection with a federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution probe.
The investigation was opened last year following claims that Jeffries and his partner had sexually abused and exploited men at events in New York and around the world.
A lawyer representing some of the alleged victims confirmed the arrests in a statement to the BBC and said: “These arrests are a huge first step towards obtaining justice for the many victims who were exploited and abused through this sex-trafficking scheme that operated for many years under the legitimate cover Abercrombie provided.”
Jeffries and Smith have both previously denied any wrongdoing.
Jeffries, Smith, and the alleged middleman, James Jameson, each face a count of sex trafficking and 15 counts of interstate prostitution tied to 15 alleged victims, according to Tuesday’s indictment.
The indictment accuses the men of hosting “sex events” all over the world and using their influence and power in the modeling world to coerce young men into sex.
It found the defendants “employed coercive, fraudulent and deceptive tactics in connection with the recruitment, hiring, transportation, obtaining, maintaining, solicitation and payment of the men to engage in commercial sex”.
Breon Peace, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced the charges during a press conference on Tuesday.
“Powerful individuals, for too long, have trafficked and abused for their own sexual pleasure young people with few resources in a dream, a dream of securing a successful career in fashion or entertainment,” he said.
Peace added that powerful individuals hoping to take part in the “so-called casting couch system” should “prepare to trade that couch for a bed in federal prison”.
The defendants allegedly used their influence to draw men into events that, unbeknownst to them, would become sex parties in which they were expected to participate, according to Peace.
He said: “On more than one occasion when men did not or could not consent, Jeffries and Smith violated the bodily integrity of these men by subjecting them or continuing to subject them to invasive sexual and violent contact by body parts and other objects.”
The former boss of the international clothing company stepped down in 2014 following declining sales. He left with a retirement package valued at around £20.5m ($26m) according to company filings at the time.
He was then subsequently accused of running a sex trafficking operation. Under US law, sex trafficking includes getting an adult to travel to another state or country to have sex for money by using force, fraud or coercion.
David Bradberry, a former model for Abercrombie & Fitch, sued the fashion retailer alleging it allowed Jeffries to run the alleged operation during his 22-year tenure at the helm.
Bradberry, then 23, said that it was “made clear” to him that without performing oral sex on the alleged middleman, he would not be meeting Jeffries.
“It was like he was selling fame. And the price was compliance,” Bradberry told the BBC.
Bradberry said he later attended a party at Jeffries’s mansion in the Hamptons on Long Island where he met Mr Jeffries and had sex with him.
The lawsuit was filed following a BBC investigation that found that Jeffries and his British partner allegedly exploited young adult men for sex at events hosted by them in London, New York, and Marrakesh.
It accused Jeffries of exploiting his position to “ensnare” more than 100 male victims with free clothes and gift cards, and false promises about modeling opportunities, according to the Delaware complaint.
Abercrombie & Fitch in a statement in October said: “For close to a decade, a new executive leadership team and refreshed board of directors have successfully transformed our brands and culture into the values-driven organization we are today.”
“We have zero tolerance for abuse, harassment or discrimination of any kind.”
