Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries arrested on sex trafficking chargesJeffries, along with two associates, were arrested on sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges, New York prosecutors announced Tuesday morning.
Oct. 22, 2024, 9:19 AM EDT / Updated Oct. 22, 2024, 2:47 PM EDT
By Jonathan Dienst, Tom Winter and Marlene Lenthang
The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, Mike Jeffries, has been arrested on sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Jeffries has been arrested in West Palm Beach, Florida. Two other associates, Matthew Smith of West Palm Beach and James Jacobson of Wisconsin, were also arrested in connection with sex trafficking charges. ...
A federal indictment alleges Jeffries — along with Smith, his romantic partner, and Jacobson, who was described as a recruiter — operated an "international sex 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 sex.”
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 Sex Events could harm their careers.” ...
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 sex.”
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 Sex Events could harm their careers.” ...
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