Getty Image
Federal prosecutors announced on Tuesday that former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries, his partner Matthew Smith, and business associate James Jacobson have been arrested and charged with one count of sex trafficking and 15 counts of interstate prostitution.
According to the indictment, the three men are accused of operating an international sex trafficking and prostitution business that recruited young men for parties in the U.S. and abroad while Mike Jeffries was running the clothing brand.
CNBC reports Jeffries and Smith are charged with coercing and paying dozens of men into performing sex acts by misleading the men into believing these “tryouts” could result in modeling work for Abercrombie, and that not complying with their requests could hurt their careers.
Jacobson was allegedly tasked with traveling around the United States and internationally to recruit men for these so-called “tryouts.”
The indictment alleges that the men ran a business “that was dedicated to fulfilling their sexual desires and ensuring that their international sex trafficking and prostitution business was kept secret.”
It also states that their criminal conduct, spanning from 2008 to 2015, involved trafficking men into the United States, England, France, Italy, Morocco and Saint Barthelemy at the cost of millions of dollars. Jeffries served as the CEO at Abercrombie & Fitch from 1992 through 2014.
The criminal indictment alleges that Jeffries and Smith, using Jeffries’ family office, allegedly hired and paid “an exclusive set of household staff” to facilitate “Sex Events,” which included arranging physical spaces and transporting the men.
Household staff acted as security for the events, and provided the participants, including Jeffries and Smith, with alcohol, drugs, and sex paraphernalia, the indictment alleges.
Jacobson or other staff paid the men recruited for the sessions, according to the indictment.
“Many of the victims, at least one of whom was as young as 19-years-old, were financially vulnerable and aspired to become models in the fashion industry, a notoriously cut-throat world,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
“Indeed, some of the men they recruited had previously worked at Abercrombie stores or modeled for Abercrombie.”
The indictment comes one year after a BBC News report that detailed a two-year investigation in which 12 men said they were exploited with the promise of modeling opportunities.
Men who attended these events told the BBC Mike Jeffries and Matthew Smith would engage in sexual activity with about four men or “direct” them to have sex with each other. Afterwards, the men said staff at the event handed them envelopes filled with thousands of dollars in cash.
[David Bradberry, one of the plaintiffs in a civil lawsuit against the three men] said the “secluded” location and presence of Mr Jeffries’ personal staff, dressed in A&F uniforms, supervising events meant he “didn’t feel safe to say ‘no’ or ‘I don’t feel comfortable with this'”.
“Jeffries was so important to the profitability of the brand that he was given complete autonomy to perform his role as CEO however he saw fit, including through the use of blatant international sex-trafficking and abuse of prospective Abercrombie models,” Bradberry’s lawsuit claims.
An amended complaint filed in September alleges that “Jeffries and Smith sexually exploited what is believed to be over 100 men during Abercrombie events they hosted around the world.”
“As we laid out in our lawsuit, this was an Abercrombie run, sex trafficking organization that permeated throughout the company and allowed the three individuals arrested today to victimize dozens and dozens of young, aspiring male models,” Bradberry’s attorney Brad Edwards told ABC News in a statement.