Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries and two other men have been arrested on sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges, a spokesperson for federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Details of the criminal charges weren’t immediately available. They 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 modelling work and then pressed them into sex acts.
Jeffries’ lawyer, 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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Information on lawyers for the other defendants wasn’t immediately available.
Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney Breon Peace and FBI and police officials were set to hold a news conference later Tuesday.
Jeffries left the New Albany, Ohio-based company 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 modelling 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.
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.
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If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or is involved in an abusive situation, please visit the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime for help. They are also reachable toll-free at 1-877-232-2610.
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