Former Abercrombie and Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries has been arrested for sex trafficking and interstate prostitution.
Jeffries’ British partner Matthew Smith were arrested in West Palm Beach on Thursday, according to ABC News. A third man, Jim Jacobson, was arrested in the same case in Wisconsin.
The three men are accused of sexually exploiting and abusing young men at parties they hosted in the US and around the world.
Prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York said in January they had launched a criminal probe after several men publicly claimed they were abused by Jeffries and his partner, 80 and 61.
Jeffries and his long-time partner were accused in a bombshell BBC documentary of engaging in sex trafficking between 2009 and 2015. They have denied the allegations.
Former Abercrombie and Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries has been arrested for sex trafficking and interstate prostitution
Jeffries and his life partner Matthew Smith (left) are accused of recruiting men for sex parties and coercing them into sexual acts they were not comfortable with
The partners are expected to appear in federal court later on Tuesday.
Accusers Barrett Pall and David Bradberry claimed they were recruited for ‘modelling opportunities’ through a middleman – Jacobson – but found themselves sexually exploited.
Dozens of men have said they were approached and coerced into attending sex parties curated for Jeffries’ entertainment.
A lawyer for Jeffries has previously said ‘We will 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.’
The men said they were recruited by a middleman identified as James Jacobson, who denies any wrongdoing
David Bradberry, then 23, told the BBC he was introduced to Jacobson by an agent who described him as the gatekeeper to ‘the owners’ of A&F
In October, accuser Bradberry launched a lawsuit against the retailer over the couple’s alleged misdeeds.
Bradberry filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that Jeffries had modeling scouts scouring the internet and elsewhere to identify attractive young men seeking to be the next face of Abercrombie.
Often these prospective models became sex-trafficking victims, sent to New York and abroad and abused by Jeffries and other men, all under the guise that they were being recruited to become the next Abercrombie model, the lawsuit contends.
Barrett Pall, a former model turned life coach and activist, said he felt pressured into attending an event in the Hamptons in 2011
‘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,’ the suit alleges.
Attorneys for the victims of the class action lawsuit said on Tuesday that ‘today’s arrests are monumental for the aspiring male models who were victimized by these individuals.’
‘We look forward to holding Abercrombie and Fitch liable for facilitating this terrible conduct and ensuring that this cannot happen again,’ the statement added.
Abercrombie has previously said it is ‘appalled and disgusted’ by the allegations against Jeffries.
Jeffries, who left Abercrombie in 2014, converted the chain from an struggling retailer of hunting apparel to a seller of must-have teen clothing. But he faced criticism for the company’s sexualized marketing, including billboards and beefy models that alienated potential customers who didn’t fit into its image.