Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries and an alleged accomplice pleaded not guilty on Friday to sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges.
Jeffries and James Jacobson entered their pleas during a brief appearance at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York.
Entering the courtroom, Jeffries did not acknowledge Jacobson and let his lawyer, Brian H. Bieber, do the talking for him.
“We plead not guilty, your honor,” Bieber said.
Jeffries remains free on the $10 million bond he posted at his first court appearance Tuesday in West Palm Beach, Florida. But he has had to surrender his passport and remain confined at his homes in Florida, New York City or Long Island and is subject to GPS monitoring.
Jacobson’s bond was set at $500,000 and he was ordered not to limit his travels to Rice Lake, Wisconsin, where he lives. He too is subject to GPS monitoring.
Jeffries’ romantic partner, Matthew Smith, who was also arrested on Tuesday on sex trafficking charges, wasn’t at the arraignment. Smith, who is a citizen of the U.K., remains behind bars in West Palm Beach while bail arrangements are being negotiated and has, so far, not been given a court date, according to a spokesperson for the Eastern District of New York.
Jeffries, Smith and Jacobson have each been hit with a single count of sex trafficking, as well as 15 counts of interstate prostitution tied to 15 alleged victims. All three are barred from having any contact with each other.
Bieber said Tuesday in a statement in response to Jeffries’ arrest: “We will respond in detail to the allegations after the Indictment is unsealed, and when appropriate, but plan to do so in the courthouse — not the media.”
The trio, a federal indictment alleges, operated an “international sex trafficking and prostitution business” from 2008 to 2015.
They organized “sex events” in England, France, Italy, Morocco, St. Barts, New York City and the Hamptons for Jeffries, Smith and “others,” according to the indictment.
They “employed coercive, fraudulent and deceptive tactics in connection with the recruitment, hiring, transportation, obtaining, maintaining, solicitation and payment of the men to engage in commercial sex,” it says.
The male recruits, most of them aspiring models, were led to believe “that not complying with requests for certain acts during the Sex Events could harm their careers,” the indictment alleges.
“Many of the victims, at least one of whom was as young as 19 years old, were financially vulnerable and aspired to become models in the fashion industry, a notoriously cutthroat world,” prosecutors said in a memo to the court. “Indeed, some of the men they recruited had previously worked at Abercrombie stores or modeled for Abercrombie.”
Jeffries, Smith and Jacobson are also alleged to have paid certain household staff members to “facilitate and supervise the sex events” by, among other things, making sure the young men surrendered their wallets and cellphones.
These staffers, the indictment says, also provided Jeffries, Smith and the men who attended with alcohol, muscle relaxants known as “poppers,” lubricant, Viagra and condoms, among other items.
Afterward, it was either Jacobson or the staff members who paid the men for attending the sex events, it says.
The trio also employed a “full-service security company” to administer nondisclosure agreements, conduct background checks and, if necessary, intimidate victims, prosecutors alleged in their detention memo.
“On occasions when witnesses threatened to expose or sue them, Jeffries and Smith relied on the services of a security company to surveil and intimidate those individuals, thereby securing their silence,” the memo reads.
The trio used burner phones for communication, the memo alleges.
Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said at a news conference on Tuesday that Jeffries and Smith spent millions on the sex trafficking enterprise, using the money to pay their staffers and buy their silence.
Some of the victims, the detention memo says, were also paid directly in cash that amounted to “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Peace said the operation used a referral system and interview process, during which the men who were allegedly preyed upon were kept in the dark about the details of the sex events before they attended.
During “tryouts” of potential participants, Jacobson typically had candidates first engage in commercial sex acts with him, the indictment says.
Later, at the sex events, Jeffries and Smith had staff members inject some victims with “a prescription-grade erection-inducing substance for the purpose of causing the men to engage in sex acts in which they were otherwise physically incapable or unwilling,” the detention memo alleges.
“On more than one occasion when men did not or could not consent, Jeffries and Smith violated the bodily integrity of these men by subjecting them or continuing to subject them to invasive sexual and violent contact by body parts and other objects,” Peace said.
Prosecutors said they have “dozens of witnesses” who may testify, according to the document.
Federal investigators got wind of what Jeffries and the others were allegedly doing through media reports.
The BBC published an explosive report a year ago that said Jeffries had been accused of exploiting men at sex parties he hosted. The report said that 12 men described having attended or organized events that included sex acts for Jeffries and his partner, Smith, and that those events took place from 2009 to 2015. Some of the men who spoke to the BBC said they were exploited or did not participate willingly.
Bieber told NBC News at the time that Jeffries would not comment on reports about his personal life. But Abercrombie & Fitch said it was “appalled and disgusted” by the allegations in the BBC report.
Jeffries was the controversial CEO of Abercrombie from 1992 to 2014, during which time the popular clothing posted 10-digit annual earnings. But the company was also hit by harsh criticism for its use of mostly white models and for selling T-shirts that were deemed racist. The company also faced multiple discrimination lawsuits during Jeffries’ reign.
Shortly after the BBC report, both Abercrombie & Fitch and Jeffries were sued over allegations they turned a blind eye to the allegations. That civil suit, which records show remains unresolved, alleged Jeffries sexually abused numerous men after having lured them with the promise of coveted modeling contracts, CNBC reported.
