Mike Jeffries, who turned Abercrombie & Fitch into a clothing powerhouse, was arrested in West Palm Beach, Florida, as part of a prostitution and sex trafficking case. He was seen here in 2012.

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Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images

Mike Jeffries, who led Abercrombie & Fitch Co. for more than two decades, is under arrest as part of a federal investigation into a sex trafficking and interstate prostitution case. His arrest comes a year after allegations emerged in which eight men accused Jeffries and his entourage of sexually exploiting them at lavish parties around the world.

Also arrested in the case: Matthew Smith, Jeffries’ longtime romantic partner, who allegedly attended the parties with Jeffries; and James Jacobson, who allegedly recruited victims and acted as a middleman in arranging sex events.

The three were arrested Tuesday after a New York grand jury returned an indictment charging them with one count of sex trafficking and 15 counts of interstate prostitution, according to court documents. Prosecutors allege Jeffries and Smith “spent millions of dollars to create a massive infrastructure” around “sex events.”

From about 2008 to 2015, federal prosecutors said in a memo filed Tuesday that Jeffries and Smith “spent extensive money on a secret staff to organize sex events.” The memo states that the couple paid “dozens of men” to travel around the US. and internationally for the events. To maintain secrecy, the memo states, the three men allegedly used “a full-service security firm that, among other things, oversaw non-disclosure agreements, conducted background checks and interviewed witnesses.”

The memo adds that the non-disclosure agreements prevented victims and witnesses from “disclosing information about the sex events, as well as seeking help for themselves where necessary.” For those reasons, the state called on Jeffries to hold on a $10 million bond and $500,000 for Jacobson.

The memo asked that Smith, who is a British citizen, be denied bond and detained due to his perceived increased risk of fleeing.

The case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, which is working with the FBI and the New York Police Department’s Special Victims Unit.

At a news conference Tuesday, Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said Jeffries “used his power, wealth and influence to traffic men for his own sexual pleasure and that of his sexual partner Matthew Smith.” .” He said they used “force, fraud and coercion” for their own personal pleasure.

Peace said the three men charged would fly the alleged victims to places around the world to attend events for the purpose of sex, with Jacobson holding “tryouts” and then sending the selected men to Smith to “get them.” personally approve.”

“These prosecutions, as I said before, really depend on the courage of the victims to come forward and tell their stories,” Peace said, adding that there may have been more victims in this case who had yet to come forward come. “I say to all victims: we are here, we will listen, we will investigate and report crimes where necessary.”

Brian Bieber, an attorney for Jeffries, told NPR: “We will respond to the allegations in detail after the indictment is unsealed, and as appropriate, but plan to do so in the courthouse – not in the media.”

Jeffries, who abruptly resigned from Abercrombie a decade ago, was arrested in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he will make his first court appearance on Tuesday. He will later be taken to New York for an arraignment.

Several of the men who made accusations against Jeffries were male models, as NPR reported last October. They described a dynamic in which money and the ability to obtain legitimate employment were used as leverage to get them to perform sex acts at events and at Jeffries’ then-home in the Hamptons.

“I think this experience has broken me,” one man told the BBC, which first reported the allegations. “I think this stole every ounce of innocence I had left. It messed me up mentally. But with the language I speak now, I can sit here and tell you I was taken advantage of.”

Peace, the U.S. attorney, said his office first became aware of the allegations against Jeffries through media reports, which he said was not unusual. He noted that the department has a track record of bringing powerful people to justice, citing the prosecutions against R. Kelly and NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere.

“We do not hesitate to hold the powerful and wealthy accountable,” Peace said.

During his long tenure at A&F, Jeffries took the clothing brand to new heights. But he was also at the center of several controversies. In 2003, black, Latino and Asian American employees filed a class action lawsuit accusing the company of sidelining them (it was later settled). Accusations were also made that A&F’s magazine catalog had become a corporatized example of softcore porn.

Jeffries was further criticized for his focus on making the brand deliberately ‘exclusive’, telling Salon in 2006: ‘That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to sell that to cool, good-looking people. We don’t sell to anyone other than that.”

In 2013, he gently retracted these comments, saying the quote had been taken out of context but that he regretted that his “choice of words was interpreted in a way that was offensive.”

Jeffries’ sudden departure in 2014 came after a prolonged slump in Abercrombie’s sales, as well as a series of splashy moves that did not benefit the company.

Recently, A&F has seen a resurgence in the market, rebranding to distance itself from its problems – and from the Jeffries era.