At least 14 more men are alleging sexual misconduct against former Abercrombie & Fitch chief executive officer Mike Jeffries, who was charged with sex trafficking last fall.
Jeffries, who exited the company in 2014, is under house arrest for allegedly orchestrating an international sex trafficking and interstate prostitution operation with his partner Matthew Smith and a middleman James Jacobson. Some of the accusers have said that they were drugged and forced to have sex. Others claimed they had attended events at five-star locations under the false promise that it could lead to modeling opportunities. Jeffries, 80, pled not guilty last year. Smith, 61, and Jacobson, 72, who are also under house arrest, have pled not guilty as well. That 16-count indictment alleged that the trio used a combination of force, fraud and coercion to traffic while operating a prostitution ring between December 2008 and 2015.
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The claims, which include sex trafficking and were first reported by the BBC Friday, date back to 1992 and include accusers, who were Abercrombie & Fitch employees. Jeffries joined the company in 1992.
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Jared Scotto, an associate attorney at Weitz & Luxenberg, said he is representing 12 men who had worked for the company, and is speaking with other individuals about their allegations against Jeffries. “We are investigating everybody’s claims, and we are following the criminal proceedings and civil class action suit very closely. We continue to interview potential claimants,” Scotto said.
Separately, two other men, Brandon Steele and Joseph Sterling, have reportedly filed lawsuits in New York alleging they were raped by Jeffries. The men claimed to have been “assaulted on multiple occasions, after being pressured to take illegal narcotics and forced to endure penis injections at Abercrombie-themed” events, where they were given Abercrombie & Fitch clothes to wear, according to the BBC’s report Friday. When in their late teens and 20s, the men claimed to have been approached for potential modeling jobs with the American brand.
Steele and Sterling could not be reached for comment Friday.
Representatives at Abercrombie & Fitch did not acknowledge requests for comment Friday about the allegations or about negligence lawsuits that have been filed against the company. One of Jeffries’ attorneys, Brian Bieber of Gray Robinson, had not acknowledged a media request early Friday afternoon.
The former CEO was credited with rebuilding the sportswear brand with editorial-style advertising of well-chiseled male models and bare-chested greeters at the entrance to Abercrombie & Fitch stores.
Reports of alleged sexual misconduct by Jeffries first aired in 2023 via a BBC investigation that was led by Rianna Croxford, who also reported the new allegations. That also led to a BBC documentary “The Abercrombie Guys: The Dark Side of Cool” and a BBC podcast “World of Secrets.”
Should the class action suit that Edwards filed on behalf of his clients be certified, the accusers, whom Scotto is representing, could join that. In December, Jeffries’ lawyers called for a competency hearing to determine if he can face a sex trafficking trial, claiming that he has late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Asked for comment about the new allegations, Edwards said, “There is still so much that we know and the world does not. But, once our civil lawsuit starts up again, the number of people who knew about the rampant sexual abuse and did nothing will be shocking. Someone in Mike Jeffries’ position should feign to have forgotten everything. Oh wait…”
A status hearing for Jeffries, Smith and Jacobson is scheduled for May 1 in federal court in Central Islip, N.Y.