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, was arrested on Tuesday, months after several young men claimed he abused his power to take advantage of them in a sick scheme.
His partner, Matt Smith, 61, and Jim Jacobson, who is accused of working as Jeffries’ middleman in the scheme, were also arrested.
Smith and Jeffries were cuffed in Palm Beach, Florida, and sent to Long Island, New York, where they face charges.
Jeffries walked in with an ankle monitor strapped to his leg and pleaded not guilty to the charges, the BBC reports.
Jeffries ran Abercrombie from 1992 to 2014 and is the mastermind behind the brand’s salacious style that saw naked male torsos plastered across stores and packaging.
Abercrombie became a worldwide sensation under his leadership, and prosecutors say Jeffries used this power to convince young men to become his newest sexual fantasies.
Jeffries hired Jacobson to seek out handsome young men and convince 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.
All participants were pushed past their comfort levels with threats of being ousted from the modeling industry.
Jeffries hasn’t been in the public eye for some time, but he showed up to a Palm Beach, Florida, courtroom on Tuesday to hear his charges.
He was seen flashing a creepy smile alongside his lawyer, who has told outlets that he will only respond to allegations in the courtroom.
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