The net had been closing in on Mike Jeffries, former CEO of fashion giant Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F), for years.
A Netflix show in 2022 brought to light Jeffries’ fashion empire, his penchant for scantily clad models and his near-obsession with a brand image of only “beautiful people.”
Then last year, a BBC investigation claimed Jeffries exploited young men in drug-fueled sex games at his New York homes and luxury hotels around the world.
Jeffries, his partner Matthew Smith and the couple’s alleged middleman, James Jacobson, were arrested Tuesday on charges of interstate sex trafficking and prostitution, two senior law enforcement officials revealed.
The FBI and New York prosecutors will reveal more details at a press conference.
Former Abercrombie & Fitch boss Mike Jeffries was arrested Tuesday on interstate sex trafficking and prostitution charges.
Model Keith Milkie claimed that Jeffries and Smith deliberately targeted heterosexual men who they could force into homosexual sex.
Lawyers for Jeffries and Smith have “vehemently denied” any wrongdoing on the part of both men.
The arrests in West Palm Beach, Florida, mark a spectacular fall from grace for Jeffries.
Between 1992 and 2014, he was chief executive of the popular clothing brand, traveling the world as sales soared thanks to a preppy range and campaigns featuring sexy, slim, mostly white models.
He was praised as its ‘modern founder,’ transforming the hectic Ohio-based brick-and-mortar company in the 1990s into a multimillion-dollar teen retailer.
But Jeffries increasingly disagreed with the trend toward inclusivity and faced growing accusations of fatphobia, racism and discrimination.
He resigned in 2014 after declining sales and left with a retirement package worth about $25 million, company filings at the time showed.
Last year, the BBC revealed that A&F’s focus on physical beauty went far beyond the shirtless men greeting them at the doors of its stores.
While running the company, Jeffries, along with Smith, used a middleman to recruit young adult men seeking to become A&F models for sex parties, it is alleged.
They allegedly exploited men for sexual purposes at events held at their New York residences and in luxury hotels around the world, including London, Paris, Venice and Marrakech.
A dozen men described attending or hosting events involving sexual acts for the fashion mogul, 80, and his British partner Smith, 61, between 2009 and 2015.
At the parties, Jeffries and Smith allegedly had sex with about four men or ordered them to have sex with each other.
Jeffries and his life partner Matthew Smith (left) are accused of recruiting men for sex parties and forcing them to perform sexual acts they were not comfortable with.
When Jeffries ran the fashion giant, shirtless men greeted shoppers in stores staffed by attractive, mostly white sales assistants.
The men were later given envelopes filled with thousands of dollars in cash, it is claimed.
Some said they were misled about the facts or were not told sex was involved.
Others claimed that drugs had been put in their drinks and that they could have been raped.
Among the alleged victims was David Bradberry, who was 23 when he was introduced to Jacobson in 2010.
He was told that Jacobson was the guardian of Jeffries, head of one of the most famous brands in the world.
Jacobson allegedly told her that to get a modeling job at A&F, she would have to let Jeffries “perform oral sex on me,” Bradberry told the BBC.
The young model later accepted an invitation to Jeffries’ former $29 million home in the Hamptons.
There, Jeffries gave him gay sex drug ‘poppers’ and then had sex with him, she said.
The largest sex party on record took place in 2011 at a five-star hotel in Marrakech, Morocco, where dozens of aspiring models and other men were flown in for a night of dancing and oral sex.
Jacobson, the alleged middleman, said the male models were paid as “consensual” participants.
“Everyone who attended these events that I came in contact with came in with their eyes wide open,” he said.
A year before those shocking revelations, the Netflix documentary White Hot had offered a glimpse inside Jeffries’ beauty-obsessed mind and his approach to the fashion business.
It charts A&F’s rise to massive sales and cultural influence in the ’90s and ’00s and the accusations of racism, fatphobia and discrimination that ultimately led to its downfall.
Diego Guillén, who was paid to call people to invite them to the alleged sex parties, said that he participated in them and that everyone involved did so consensually.
Jeffries was praised for turning the company around, with his famous sexy ads, which featured semi-naked models, often in intimate poses.
The makeover worked and the company grew steadily, expanding from 26 stores with $50 million in sales in 1992 to 125 stores and $335 in sales in 1996, when it went public, according to Bloomberg.
It continued to expand into the new millennium, with a clothing line for younger children in 1998 and another brand, Hollister, in 2000.
By then, A&F was hugely popular with teenagers and its sexy ads were iconic.
Over the years, big stars modeled for the brand, often before they made it big. A&F’s famous models included Jennifer Lawrence, Karlie Kloss, Lindsay Lohan, Sienna Miller, Penn Badgley, Ashton Kutcher, Jamie Dornan, Taylor Swift, Channing Tatum, January Jones and Olivia Wilde.
But the company was coming under fire for racism from minority groups.
Sales associates in stores were considered “models,” and retail stores rejected applicants who did not fit a certain “look,” which supposedly often included minorities.
Others complained that they were not young or thin enough to represent the brand.
But Jeffries was unapologetic and openly admitted that the company was somewhat “exclusive.”
Jeffries’ reign at Abercrombie & Fitch was dominated by his controversial brand image and the equally controversial comments he made about his customer base.
Jeffries was praised for turning the fashion brand around, with its famously sexy ads and partially nude models.
He shamelessly explained his preferences in a 2006 interview with Salon, in which he said that sexual attraction was “almost everything.”
‘That’s why we hire beautiful people in our stores. Because beautiful people attract other beautiful people, and we want to promote beautiful and attractive people. “We don’t market to anyone other than that,” he said.
‘In every school, there are the cool, popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Honestly, we chase the cool kids. We’re looking for the attractive, American guy, with a great attitude and lots of friends.’
A lawsuit in 2012 also revealed Jeffries’ exacting standards for crew on A&F corporate flights, including the fact that the CEO required male crew to wear branded underwear.
The uniform included A&F jeans, polo shirts, flip-flops, sweatshirts and a winter coat that had to be worn, with the collar up, when the temperature dropped to 50 degrees or below, according to Bloomberg.