Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries arrested on federal sex trafficking charges

The former CEO of clothing retail giant Abercrombie & Fitch has been indicted on federal charges that he ran a prostitution and international sex trafficking business that federal authorities said operated in the Hamptons, New York City and other locales around the world and "preyed on the hopes and dreams of the victims."

Michael Jeffries, 80, of West Palm Beach, Florida, was indicted on one count of sex trafficking and 15 counts of engaging in interstate prostitution — one count for each of the 15 "John Doe" victims listed in the indictment. Prosecutors said there were dozens of victims — the youngest was 19 — and many of them "aspired to become models in the fashion industry." Some of the victims, according to prosecutors, had worked at Abercrombie & Fitch stores or had modeled for the brand.

Jeffries, who ran the retailer from 1992 to 2014, was arrested Tuesday in Florida along with his 61-year-old romantic partner, Matthew Smith, who also lives in West Palm Beach and is also charged in the indictment, authorities said.

"While Jeffries was the CEO of one of the most recognizable retailers in the world, he was using his power, his wealth and his influence to traffic men for his own sexual pleasure and that of his romantic partner Matthew Smith," said Breon Peace, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. "The charging documents describe in graphic and disturbing detail the violent and exploitative acts these defendants perpetrated."

Co-defendant James Jacobson, 71, of Rice Lake, Wisconsin, who allegedly acted as a "recruiter" to find men to engage in sex acts with Jeffries and Smith, was arrested in Wisconsin.

A spokesperson for Abercrombie & Fitch Co. did not respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday.

Jeffries was released on a $10 million bond and Jacobson was released on a $500,000 bond at their initial appearances in a Florida courthouse, prosecutors said. Smith, a British citizen who prosecutors in a bail letter described as a flight risk, was ordered detained. Jeffries and Jacobson will be arraigned on Friday at 3 p.m. at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, prosecutors said.

In identical emailed statements from Jeffries' Miami-based attorney, Brian H. Bieber, and from Smith's defense attorneys, Joseph E. Nascimento and Dave Raben, the attorneys said before the indictment was unsealed:

"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."

Jacobson's lawyer did not reply to a request for comment.

Prosecutors alleged that between December 2008 and March 2015, Jeffries, Smith and Jacobson operated the international sex trafficking and prostitution business using a combination of "force, fraud and coercion" at properties in Water Mill, New York City, England, France, Italy, Morocco and Saint Barthélemy, the celebrity vacation destination known as St. Barts, by dangling the possibility of success in the modeling industry and proximity to the Abercrombie & Fitch brand. Peace said dozens of men were victims of the defendants.

Jeffries and Smith allegedly employed Jacobson as a recruiter and he engaged in so-called "tryouts," paying men to have sex with him, Peace said. Then Smith would "personally approve" who would meet Jeffries, Peace said. The men were flown to various properties or hotels to have sex with Jeffries and Smith, prosecutors said. They were given alcohol, Viagra and muscle relaxants known as "poppers" at the sex events, prosecutors said.

Jeffries "employed a secret staff" in order to operate the sex events that included security personnel, prosecutors said, and the men were forced to hand over their phones and sign nondisclosure agreements in order "to maintain the secrecy of these events," Peace said.

"They caused the men to believe that attending these events could yield modeling opportunities with Abercrombie or otherwise benefit their careers," Peace said.

In a bail letter, prosecutors said the alleged conduct was "not aberrational or a one-time mistake."

"The defendants employed dozens of people and spent millions of dollars on their illegal enterprise," the bail letter said. "Their crimes were meticulously planned to take advantage of men for their own sexual pleasure, which included forcible sex without consent."

Prosecutors, in the bail letter, said that when the alleged victims refused to consent or were unable to consent, on multiple occasions Jeffries and Smith "violated the bodily integrity of the men" using body parts "or other objects."

Prosecutors added that both men injected victims "with an erection-inducing substance" or directed others to do so in order to force the men into sex.

Peace said the investigation, performed jointly by the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI and the NYPD, is ongoing and praised the alleged victims for coming forward.

"I want to thank the victims who have already come forward," Peace said. "Prosecutions like this are really impossible without the bravery of victims who are willing to report what happened to them to law enforcement."

The indictment comes a year after the BBC reported similar allegations against Jeffries, Smith and Jacobson from a dozen men, according to The Associated Press.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.