Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries and two of his associates were reportedly arrested on Tuesday morning on federal sex trafficking charges.
Prosecutors out of the Eastern District of New York charged the men with more than a dozen counts for alleged criminal activity that happened between 2008 and 2015, CNN reported.
The men allegedly engaged in a scheme where they recruited young aspiring male models and then pressured them into performing sex acts at parties, sources told the network.
Prosecutors are expected to hold a press conference later on Tuesday when they will release details on the case.
All the defendants are expected to make their initial court appearances on Tuesday with two of the defendants, including Jeffries, scheduled to appear in federal court in Florida and the third scheduled to appear in federal court in Wisconsin.
The identities of the two other men were not immediately known.
Brian Bieber, the lawyer representing Jeffries, told the Associated Press that 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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The FBI opened a criminal investigation into Jeffries after a report from the BBC was published last October that alleged: “Jeffries and his partner Matthew Smith had exploited young men for sex at events they hosted in their New York residences and worldwide in luxurious hotels.”
Eight men told the publication that they attended these sex parties in cities around the world where they were “direct[ed]” to engage in sexual activity with them or with each other.
After the report was published about Jeffries, who was with the company for two decades, Abercrombie & Fitch was “accused in a civil lawsuit of funding a sex-trafficking operation led by Mike Jeffries and Matthew Smith between 1992 and 2014.”
The lawsuit alleged that there were more than 100 male victims.
