Thursday, October 24, 2024 - The former CEO
of Abercrombie & Fitch, Mike Jeffries, has been arrested on s£x
trafficking and interstate prost!tution charges.
Jeffries was arrested in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Two of his associates, Matthew Smith of West Palm Beach and James Jacobson
of Wisconsin, were also arrested in connection with s£x trafficking charges.
They are expected to appear in federal court in Florida and Wisconsin
today, October 22, and arraigned on a later date in the eastern District of New
York.
Jeffries was the CEO of the popular clothing brand from 1992 to 2014.
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York will have a press
conference on the charges Tuesday, Oct. 22, at noon.
A federal indictment alleges Jeffries, along with Smith and Jacobson,
operated an "international s£x trafficking and prostitution business” from
2008 to 2015.
It alleges that they organized “sex events” in England, France, Italy,
Morocco, St. Barts and New York for Jeffries, Smith and “others.” They
“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 s£x.”
The men who attended the events allegedly were led to believe that it
could lead to modeling opportunities or help their careers or “that not
complying with requests for certain acts during the S£x Events could harm their
careers.”
The men were required to sign non-disclosure agreements and surrender
their wallets and cell phones during the events.
Jeffries, Smith and Jacobson also allegedly recruited, hired and paid an
exclusive set of household staff to “facilitate and supervise the s£x
events.” The staff provided Jeffries, Smith and the men who attended alcohol,
muscle relaxants known as “poppers,” lubricant, Viagra, and condoms among other
items. Either Jacobson or the staff paid the men for attending the s£x events,
the indictment said.
Jeffries, Smith and Jacobson each face a single count of s£x trafficking
as well as 15 counts of interstate prost!tution tied to 15 alleged victims.
The news of Jeffries' arrest comes one year after BBC
News published an explosive report that said Jeffries exploited
men at s£x parties he hosted.
That report said 12 men described attending or organizing events that
included s£x acts for Jeffries and his partner Matthew Smith, and those events
took place from 2009 to 2015. Some of the men who spoke to BBC said they were
exploited or didn’t participate willingly.
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