Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries faces federal sex trafficking charges

WARNING: This story may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it.

Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries, his romantic partner and a third man were arrested Tuesday on charges of luring men into drug-laced, outlandish and coercive sex parties held around the world by dangling the promise of modelling for the retailer's once-defining beefcake ads.

Jeffries, partner Matthew Smith and their employee James Jacobson "operated an international sex trafficking and prostitution business" from 2008 to 2015, using Jeffries's status, wealth and a web of household staffers to fulfil the couple's sexual desires -- and keep it all secret, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn.

"Sexually exploiting vulnerable human beings is a crime. And doing so by dangling dreams of a future in fashion or modeling ... is no different," Brooklyn-based U.S. attorney Breon Peace said at a news conference, calling the case a warning "to anyone who thinks they can exploit and coerce others by using the so-called casting couch system."

James Dennehy, the assistant director of the FBI's New York office, called the allegations "abhorrent."

The charges follow and sometimes echo sexual misconduct allegations made in civil lawsuits and the media by young people who said Jeffries lured them with promises of modelling work and then pressed them into sex acts.

Jeffries' lawyer, Brian Bieber, and Smith's lawyers, Joseph Nascimento and David Raben, said by email they would respond to the allegations in court.

Messages seeking comment were sent to Jacobson's lawyer. Jacobson has said previously that he didn't engage in or know about any coercive, deceptive or forceful behaviour.

All three defendants were due later Tuesday in various courts — Jeffries and Smith in Florida, where they were taken into custody, and Jacobson in St. Paul, Minn., after his arrest in Wisconsin.

The three are charged with sex trafficking and interstate prostitution involving 15 unnamed accusers. 

According to the indictment, they paid for dozens of men to travel within the U.S. and internationally to engage in paid sex with them and other men in New York and at hotels in England, France, Italy, Morocco and St. Barts between 2008 and 2015.

The sometimes graphic indictment describes sexual bacchanals in which the recruited men were given drugs, lubricant, condoms, costumes, sex toys and, sometimes, erection-inducing penile injections that caused painful, hours-long reactions.

The men weren't informed of all that the events would entail, including some of the sexual practices they'd be expected to engage in, and they were required to give up their clothes and cell phones during the gatherings and sign non-disclosure agreements afterward, the indictment said. It said they were sometimes given itineraries that looked like those sent to models for photo shoots, leaving the men in the dark about what they were signing up for.

The defendants led the men to believe that attending the events would help their careers, including their chances of getting Abercrombie modelling gigs — or that not complying could harm their prospects, the indictment says.