The previous CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, Mike Jeffries, and his British associate, Matthew Smith, have been arrested on fees of intercourse trafficking.
The couple, together with an alleged middleman, had been taken into custody on Tuesday morning. The FBI and the prosecutor’s workplace are anticipated to launch additional particulars at an upcoming press convention.
“The U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Jap District of New York has launched a felony investigation of the alleged occasions and occurrences mentioned in Plaintiff’s Criticism,” prosecutors wrote in a court docket submitting.
The lawyer for the plaintiff, Brad Edwards of Edwards Henderson, told ABC News: “As we specified by our lawsuit, this was an Abercrombie run, intercourse trafficking group that permeated all through the corporate and allowed the three people arrested at the moment to victimize dozens and dozens of younger, aspiring male fashions.”
Authorized representatives for Jeffries and Smith, who’ve beforehand “vehemently denied” any allegations of misconduct, are but to touch upon their arrest.
BREAKING: Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries and two others had been arrested Tuesday as a part of a felony intercourse trafficking investigation, sources aware of the investigation advised ABC Information. https://t.co/XhJq55lYHx pic.twitter.com/f8uYse65bk
— ABC Information (@ABC) October 22, 2024
Final yr, The Gateway Pundit reported how a lawsuit filed by former mannequin David Bradberry had accused Jeffries of intercourse trafficking, sexual misconduct and rape.
“Abercrombie cared about profiting and confirmed absolute loyalty to Jeffries, together with a willingness to spend copious quantities of cash on extravagant drug and intercourse events, ignoring a number of pink flags of criminality in Jeffries’s company account exercise,” the grievance said.
“With Abercrombie’s complicity, Jeffries was free to sexually abuse dozens of males, paying an amazing amount of money in hush cash, with out the worry of detection by legislation enforcement,” the grievance claims.
Lawsuit Claims Abercrombie & Fitch Was Funding a Sex-Trafficking Operation
Based in 1892, the corporate was initially recognized for outside gear and sporting items. It later remodeled into a worldwide model specializing in informal put on for younger adults.
The corporate gained notoriety within the late Nineties and early 2000s for its provocative advertising and marketing, unique picture, and controversial practices, together with criticisms of its hiring and promoting methods.
In 2022, Netflix launched a documentary White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch inspecting the model’s controversial methods and allegations of discrimination that led ot its eventual decline.