A lawsuit filed in New York alleges that the fashion brand Abercrombie & Fitch funded a sex trafficking operation. The legal complaint asserts that the company granted former CEO Mike Jeffries unrestricted access to funds for the purpose of backing his “criminal enterprise.”
According to the BBC, this lawsuit, seeking class-action status, accuses Jeffries and his British associate, Matthew Smith, of sex trafficking, sexual misconduct, and rape.
David Bradberry, a former model now aged 37, brought this suit forward. He spoke to the BBC as part of an investigation into Jeffries’ actions.
The complaint contends, “Abercrombie cared about profiting and showed absolute loyalty to Jeffries, including a willingness to spend copious amounts of money on extravagant drug and sex parties, ignoring multiple red flags of criminality in Jeffries’s corporate account activity.”
The lawsuit argues that Abercrombie & Fitch served as the “financial lifeblood for a sex trafficking organization” overseen by Jeffries during the period from at least 1992 to 2014, when he was associated with Abercrombie.
“It alleges he used A&F’s corporate resources including a jet, transportation, and unlimited amounts of cash to facilitate a sex-trafficking venture, which enabled him to accumulate ‘new victims at an alarming rate’ and he also had access to aspiring models,” as reported by the BBC.
JUST IN: New Bombshell Lawsuit Accuses Abercrombie & Fitch of FUNDING Sex Trafficking Operation..
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) October 29, 2023
A lawsuit has been filed in New York against Abercrombie & Fitch, accusing the company of funding a sex-trafficking operation.
The suit alleges that the company allowed former CEO… pic.twitter.com/UuaEhyj2v2
A separate CNBC report suggests that Jeffries has been accused of sexually abusing more than 100 young men by offering them modeling opportunities.
“Because of this lawsuit and the brave men that have come forward, Abercrombie will have to answer for its many unacceptable actions and inactions that have destroyed the lives of dozens of young men,” Brad Edwards, a civil lawyer who is now representing some of the alleged victims, told the BBC.
It’s noted that Abercrombie employees were reportedly aware of Jeffries’ actions, as a video showing him “sniffing what was believed to be cocaine off a man’s penis,” circulated within the company.
The lawsuit says, “While Abercrombie tried to prevent the video from being more widely disseminated, the company did nothing to discourage the behaviour captured in the video and in fact continued to financially reward Jeffries.”
The lawsuit alleges that Abercrombie employees were also instructed to “properly pack his sex toy bag for his business trips,” Furthermore, it claims that Jeffries used his corporate email account to coordinate meetings for the purpose of sexually abusing young men.
The complaint asserts that “With Abercrombie’s complicity, Jeffries was free to sexually abuse dozens of men, paying a tremendous amount of cash in hush money, without the fear of detection by law enforcement.”
The lawsuit maintains that Jeffries was “using the Abercrombie name… his power within the company, its clothing, its photographers, and its marketing materials in order to ensnare the young male victims into the sex-trafficking venture,” the lawsuit says.
