Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries and two other men have been arrested on sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges, the Department of Justice said.
The charges come after years of sexual misconduct allegations, made in civil lawsuits and the media, from young people who said Jeffries lured them with promises of modeling work and then pressed them into sex acts.
“As alleged in the indictment, former CEO of Abercrombie Michael Jeffries, his partner Matthew Smith and their recruiter James Jacobson used their money and influence to prey on vulnerable men for their own sexual gratification,” said United States Attorney Breon Peace. “Today’s arrests show that my Office and our law enforcement partners will not rest until anyone who engages in sex trafficking or interstate prostitution, regardless of their wealth or power, is brought to justice.”
Jeffries' attorney, Brian Bieber, said by email he would “respond in detail to the allegations after the indictment is unsealed, and when appropriate, but plan to do so in the courthouse — not the media.”
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Messages seeking comment were sent to attorneys for Smith and Jacobson.
Jeffries left New Albany, Ohio-based Abercrombie & Fitch in 2014.
One civil lawsuit filed in New York last year accused Abercrombie of allowing Jeffries to run a sex-trafficking organization during his 22-year tenure. It said that Jeffries had modeling scouts scouring the internet for victims, and that some prospective models became sex-trafficking victims.
Abercrombie last year said it had hired an outside law firm to conduct an independent investigation after a report on similar allegations was aired by the BBC.
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The BBC investigation included a dozen men who described being at events involving sex acts they said were staged by Jeffries and his partner, Matthew Smith, often at his home in New York and hotels in London, Paris and elsewhere.
When the civil lawsuit was filed in New York last year, Bieber declined to comment on the allegations.
