Mike Jeffries, the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, has been arrested on sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Jeffries was arrested in West Palm Beach, Florida. Two associates, Matthew Smith of West Palm Beach and James Jacobson of Wisconsin, were also arrested in connection with sex trafficking charges.
Jeffries and Smith made their initial court appearance in West Palm Beach on Tuesday afternoon.
Jeffries, who was the controversial CEO of the popular clothing brand from 1992 to 2014, was released on $10 million bond later in the day. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart ordered that he be confined to home detention with GPS monitoring and that he could not travel without approval and must surrender his passport.
Smith, in the same courtroom, submitted to detention until the matter is heard in New York state. Jacobson was scheduled to appear in federal court in Islip alongside Jeffries for arraignment on Friday.
Jeffries, Smith and Jacobson each face a single count of sex trafficking, as well as 15 counts of interstate prostitution tied to 15 alleged victims.
In court Tuesday, Jeffries, wearing a blue polo shirt and white shorts, was shackled in a jury box as he conferred with his attorney, Brian H. Bieber.
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, New York City and the Hamptons 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,” it says.
The men who attended the events 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,” the indictment alleges.
The youngest of the alleged victims was 19, prosecutors said in a memo to the court Tuesday.
“Many of the victims, at least one of whom was as young as 19 years old, were financially vulnerable and aspired to become models in the fashion industry, a notoriously cutthroat world,” the memo says. “Indeed, some of the men they recruited had previously worked at Abercrombie stores or modeled for Abercrombie.”
The men were required to sign nondisclosure agreements and surrender their wallets and cellphones during the events, prosecutors said.
Jeffries, Smith and Jacobson are also alleged to have recruited, hired and paid an exclusive set of household staff members to “facilitate and supervise the sex events.”
The staff members provided Jeffries, Smith and the men who attended with alcohol, muscle relaxants known as “poppers,” lubricant, Viagra and condoms, among other items, the indictment says. Either Jacobson or the staff members paid the men for attending the sex events, it says.
The trio employed a “full-service security company” to administer nondisclosure agreements, conduct background checks and monitor and, if necessary, intimidate victims, prosecutors alleged in their detention memo.
“On occasions when witnesses threatened to expose or sue them, Jeffries and Smith relied on the services of a security company to surveil and intimidate those individuals, thereby securing their silence,” it said.
The trio used burner phones for communication, the memo alleges.
Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said at a news conference that Jeffries and Smith spent millions on the sex trafficking enterprise — from paying staff members to paying for travel to paying to maintain secrecy.
The detention memo says some victims were paid directly in cash that amounted to “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Peace said the operation used a referral system and interview process, during which the men who were allegedly preyed upon were not informed about the details of the sex events before they attended. During those “tryouts” of potential candidates, Jacobson typically had candidates first engage in commercial sex acts with him, the indictment says.
At the events, the men were pressured to drink and consume poppers, and “on more than one occasion when men did not or could not consent, Jeffries and Smith violated the bodily integrity of these men by subjecting them or continuing to subject them to invasive sexual and violent contact by body parts and other objects,” Peace said.
Jeffries and Smith ordered staff members to inject some victims with “a prescription-grade erection-inducing substance for the purpose of causing the men to engage in sex acts in which they were otherwise physically incapable or unwilling,” the detention memo alleges.
Prosecutors said they have “dozens of witnesses” who may testify, according to the document.
“Powerful individuals, for too long, have trafficked and abused for their own sexual pleasure young people with few resources in a dream, a dream of securing a successful career in fashion or entertainment,” Peace said. He warned people who think they can exploit or coerce by using the “so-called casting couch system” to “prepare to trade that couch for a bed in federal prison.”
Peace said his office became aware of the allegations through media reports.
The BBC published an explosive report a year ago that said Jeffries had been accused of exploiting men at sex parties he hosted. The report said that 12 men described having attended or organized events that included sex acts for Jeffries and his partner, Smith, and that those events took place from 2009 to 2015. Some of the men who spoke to the BBC said they were exploited or did not participate willingly.
Bieber, Jeffries’ attorney, told NBC News at the time that Jeffries would not comment on reports about his personal life. Abercrombie & Fitch said it was “appalled and disgusted” by the allegations in the BBC report.
Jeffries presided as Abercrombie expanded its retail footprint and began posting 10-digit annual earnings. The rise was followed by a fall as fast-fashion stores offered competing products for much lower prices. And Abercrombie was shunned for its use of sinewy, overwhelmingly white models and for selling T-shirts that were decidedly racist. The company also faced multiple discrimination lawsuits during Jeffries’ reign.
Bieber said Tuesday in a statement in response to Jeffries’ arrest: “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.”
Shortly after that report, Abercrombie & Fitch and Jeffries were sued over allegations they turned a blind eye to the allegations against Jeffries. That civil suit alleged he sexually abused numerous men after having lured them with the promise of coveted modeling contracts, CNBC reported.
“Today’s arrests are monumental for the aspiring male models who were victimized by these individuals,” attorney Brittany Henderson, who is representing alleged victims in that class action lawsuit, said in a statement Tuesday.
“Their fight for justice does not end here,” the statement said. “We look forward to holding Abercrombie and Fitch liable for facilitating this terrible conduct and ensuring that this cannot happen again.”
Asked whether sex trafficking may have continued after 2015, Peace said the investigation is ongoing and encouraged any victims or any witnesses to come forward.
