The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch was indicted by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn Tuesday for allegedly leading a sex trafficking ring in the Hamptons to gratify his sexual decadence at the expense of unwitting men.
Michael S. Jeffries, who ran Abercrombie & Fitch between 1992 and 2014, along with his life partner Matthew C. Smith, and associate James T. Jacobson, are accused of forcing numerous men over a seven-year period into being part of “an international sex trafficking and prostitution business,” according to the indictment.
The sole purpose of the business, federal prosecutors said, was to allegedly fulfill the three defendants’ sexual appetite without sullying Jeffries’ “powerful reputation.” The victims recruited were allegedly duped into participating in the ring with empty promises of modeling jobs under the lucrative Abercrombie label — but once ensnared, they were forced to take part in sexual acts against their will, and sign non-disclosure agreements.
Jeffries, Smith and Jacobson are charged in a 16-count indictment with sex trafficking and engaging in interstate prostitution. According to U.S. Attorney Breon Peace of the Eastern District of New York, Jeffries and Smith were arrested in Florida this morning and due for arraignment in federal court there later Tuesday, while Jacobson was apprehended in Minnesota and is being arraigned Tuesday in a St. Paul courtroom.
“As alleged in the indictment, former CEO of Abercrombie Michael Jeffries, his partner Matthew Smith and their recruiter James Jacobson used their money and influence to prey on vulnerable men for their own sexual gratification,” Peace said. “Today’s arrests show that my office and our law enforcement partners will not rest until anyone who engages in sex trafficking or interstate prostitution, regardless of their wealth or power, is brought to justice.”
amNewYork Metro contacted Abercrombie & Fitch for comment, but a company spokesperson declined to do so for this story.
No fewer than 15 men — with at least one as young as 19 years of age at the time — were part of the illicit operation and testified before the grand jury, according to the charges.
Each recruit was paid to travel to locations in the U.S., including Jeffries’ home in Water Mill in the Hamptons, and around the globe to engage in trysts with Jeffries and Smith, as well as large “sex events” with others.
Federal prosecutors said that the men were allegedly recruited by Jacobson, who often auditioned each participant by engaging them in sexual acts.
The ring, according to the indictment, “intentionally recruited heterosexual men, certain of whom were unwilling to engage in particular sex acts, including anal sex,” but nonetheless forced them to engage in such acts during the sex events.
Often, the sex event participants were plied with alcohol, muscle relaxers, Viagra and sometimes penile injections to induce sexual arousal and cooperaton. The men involved in the sex trafficking ring were directed by Jeffries and Smith to wear costumes and use sex toys.
Prosecutors said the three defendants “employed a referral system and review process that failed to inform men of the details of the sex events before they attended.” Instead, they were provided itineraries which “resembled those often sent to models for photo shoots.”
Once they arrived for the purported shoot, the victims of the sex trafficking ring were forced to hand over their communication devices to staff and coerced into signing non-disclosure agreements to keep their involvement secret — under threat that it could ruin their chance at promised modeling opportunities, which never came.
Some of the men were also penetrated anally or given high-pressured enemas without their consent, the prosecutors noted.
Each defendant faces 15 years to life in federal prison if convicted on the sex trafficking charge, and up to 20 years in prison on each interstate prostitution charge upon conviction.
