Ex-Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries pleads not guilty to trafficking charges after ‘luring hopeful models into sex parties’
ABERCROMBIE & Fitch’s ex-CEO, who’s accused of luring hopeful models into perverse sex parties with promises of success, has pleaded not guilty to trafficking charges.
Mike Jeffries, 80, allegedly ran a scheme where he scouted hopeful models to appease his sick sexual fantasies.
Jeffries, his partner, Matt Smith, 61, and Jim Jacobson, who is accused of working as Jeffries’ middleman in the scheme, were all arrested on Tuesday.
Smith and Jeffries were cuffed in Palm Beach, Florida, where the former CEO posted a $10 million bond before he was sent to Long Island, New York, to face charges.
On Friday, Jeffries walked into the hearing wearing a suit with an ankle monitor peeking out from his leg to plead not guilty to the charges, the BBC reports.
Jacobson, who was sitting one row behind the fashion mogul, also pleaded not guilty.
Smith will appear in court at a later date.
Outside of the courthouse, Jeffries flashed a concerned look as he breezed past reporters and avoided their questions.
He got into a car and went back to his home on Fisher Island, where he remains on house arrest.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’
Jeffries ran Abercrombie from 1992 to 2014 and is the mastermind behind the brand’s salacious style that saw pictures of naked male torsos plastered across stores and packaging.
Abercrombie became a worldwide sensation under his leadership, and prosecutors say Jeffries used this power to trick young men into becoming his newest sexual objects.
Jeffries hired Jacobson to seek out handsome young men and convinced them to partake in casting couch-style interviews where they would perform oral sex on him, prosecutors allege.
Many of the hopeful models would then be invited to Abercrombie parties, where they were plied with alcohol and drugs and allegedly convinced to perform sex acts on Jeffries or each other.
Prosecutors say some young men were inebriated past the point of consent and woke up with no memory of what happened.
Anyone who refused to engage in something that made them uncomfortable was riddled with threats that their career would be immediately taken away from them, prosecutors allege.
Sometimes, models were asked to inject liquid Viagra into their genitals if they couldn’t perform in the sessions, court docs say.
The indictment lists 15 unnamed victims but came one year after a civil suit accused Jeffries of targeting nearly 100 men in his alleged trafficking scheme.
DISTURBING ALLEGATIONS
The CEO first came under fire after the bombshell BBC documentary The Abercrombie Guys: The Dark Side of Cool first revealed the brand’s creepy alleged history.
In the doc, former model David Bradberry, who is straight, said he agreed to perform oral sex on Jacobson because he thought it would lead to a stable career.
“It should have been a red flag. I wanted to believe this was an opportunity to meet someone who could make all my dreams come true,” he told the BBC.
Another model, Barrett Pall, said that a recruiter who once modeled for Abercrombie introduced him to Jeffries and convinced him to provide “sexual experiences.”
Who is Mike Jeffries?
MIKE Jeffries is the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch.
He led the company from the early 1990s until his resignation in 2014.
Jeffries helped to transform the brand into a global sensation through a highly sexualized brand image.
He implemented controversial practices, including hiring attractive young staff and maintaining a “cool” image.
Former male model hopefuls have since come forward and accused Jeffries of abusing his power to lure them into performing sex acts.
The ex-CEO allegedly had a middleman scout young men and groomed them before instructing them to have sex with Jeffries and his partner, Matt Smith.
Abercrombie eventually faced backlash for its branding, prompting Jeffries to step down due to declining sales.
He felt he couldn’t say no because he was indebted to the recruiter and wanted a job in the business.
“I was not a human to any of these people. I was a body,” he said in the doc.
“I was being presented to someone, to do what they wanted with.”
More men have come forward since the documentary’s release, with one former model claiming he was trapped under Jeffries’ thumb as a struggling 20-something model.
Keith Milkie said he was allegedly paid $24,000 to go on a cruise with Jeffries, Smith, and other men and was tormented by the CEO when he refused to have sex with another model.
“Here I am in the middle of the ocean having this person four times my age in that position of power and influence belittle me to death and literally call me worthless […] simply because I said no to something,” Milkie told the BBC in September.
EERIE SMILE
Jeffries hasn’t been in the public eye for some time and was photographed showing up at a Palm Beach courtroom on Tuesday.
He was seen flashing a creepy smile alongside his lawyer, who has told outlets that he will only respond to allegations in the courtroom.
Jeffries is now on house arrest at his home in Fishers Island off Long Island.
He’s living there with his wife, Susan, and their son. Jeffries has been partnered with Smith for years but never divorced his wife.
Jeffries is due back in court on December 12.
He, Smith, and Jacobson could all face life in prison if they’re convicted of sex trafficking.