Ex-Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries ‘arrested in sex trafficking investigation’ over ‘abuse of young men at sordid parties’
THE former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch has reportedly been arrested after he was investigated for sex trafficking.
Mike Jeffries has been accused of coercing young men into having sex with him or each other at parties thrown for the all-American fashion brand.
Jeffries, his partner Matt Smith, and a third man, Jim Jacobson, were arrested on Thursday after a federal investigation was launched in January, sources told ABC News.
That investigation came one year after over 100 alleged victims filed a civil suit against Jeffries, and accused him of running a seedy sex trafficking scheme using Abercrombie's name.
Lawyer Brad Edwards, who is representing the accusers, said the alleged scheme, "permeated throughout the company and allowed the three individuals arrested today to victimize dozens and dozens of young, aspiring male models."
Jeffries first came under fire after the BBC published an investigation where several former models came forward with disturbing tales of performing sexual favors in the hopes they could be an Abercrombie model.
Between the 1990s and the early 2000s, young men were allegedly scouted by a middleman who groomed them by performing oral sex or asking them to perform oral sex of him.
Then, the hopeful models would attend perverse Abercrombie parties where they would be enticed to have sex with Jeffries, Smith, or each other, they told the BBC.
One man said, at a party, he remembers having a drink after Jeffries tried to kiss him before he blacked out.
The next morning, he woke up and found a condom inside himself.
"When I put things together, I believe there is a very good possibility I was drugged and raped," he told the BBC.
"I'll probably never, never know for sure the answer of what happened."
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