Law&Crime Sidebar - 11 Sickening Details of Ex-Abercrombie CEO's 'Casting Calls' in Male Model Rape Lawsuit

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

Starting point is 00:00:35 will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. The message from today's prosecution is clear. Sexually exploiting vulnerable human beings is a crime. And doing so by dangling dreams. of a future in fashion or modeling or any other business is no different. As music mogul Sean Diddy Combs sits behind bars in New York on sex crimes charges, another mogul who was behind the fashion powerhouse Abercrombie and Fitch is facing his own similar federal charges.

Starting point is 00:01:20 And prosecutors say because brave victims came forward, they have been able to nab a predator. We're taking a closer look at a massive lawsuit that may have seen. sparked this criminal investigation. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. So as you know, we have been actively following both the civil and criminal court proceedings of Sean Diddy Combs, the rapper who skyrocketed to fame across the music, entertainment, fashion industries, before allegations of sex trafficking and racketeering and abuse were put on the record. Now, it is another 1990s early 2000s icon who is in the hot seat.

Starting point is 00:02:02 This time we're talking about Mike Jeffries, the former CEO of the clothing brand Abercrombie and Fitch. Jeffries had left the company in 2014 after taking the label from a struggling brand to a really what was a billion dollar powerhouse. I know I used to wear it all the time. Yes, that was one of the people. funny t-shirts and all, maybe not my proudest moment, but it was a hot brand. You can't deny it. And one of the ways that Jeffries had turned Abercrombie and Fitch into a huge success was by revamping not only their marketing strategy, but also their target customer.

Starting point is 00:02:40 In fact, in 2006, Jeffries gave an interview to Salon Magazine saying that, yes, Abercrombie's image, it was built around sex appeal, especially the sex appeal of attractive young men. And in that interview, he was quoted as saying, we hire good-looking people on our stores because good-looking people attract other good-looking people. And we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don't market to anyone other than that. So in other words, he was controversial even before these allegations came out. And we told you yesterday on Sidebar that Mike Jeffries, his longtime romantic partner Matthew Smith, and an alleged middleman identified as James James, Jacobson, were all indicted in the Eastern District of New York on charges of sex trafficking

Starting point is 00:03:27 and prostitution. As we allege in the indictment between 1992 and 2014, Michael Jeffries was the chief executive officer of Abercrombie and Fitch. Abercrombie was what widely known clothing retailer with stores around the world. Aspiring fashion models knew that a place on one of Abercrombie's icon. iconic ads could be the ticket to success in the modeling industry. But while Jeffreys was the CEO of one of the most recognizable clothing retailers in the world, he was using his power, his wealth, and his influence to traffic men for his own sexual pleasure

Starting point is 00:04:13 and that of his romantic partner, Matthew Smith. As we're talking the law today, one of the things I have to say, I really enjoy doing and doing it here on Sidebar is talking about big legal rulings. And I got to tell you, I have quite a landmark one for you that has just changed things in a very big way. You can now legally trade on who will win the 2024 election. Yes, legally. And that's because our sponsor of Sidebar, Kalshi, they went to court and they won legal approval for election trading for the first time in over 100 years. And not only can you essentially bet on the 2024 presidential election winner. But with Kalshi, you can bet on who will control the House, the Senate, who will win

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Starting point is 00:05:31 sidebar. Now this criminal indictment specifically cites 15 John Does, but the government says there are likely many, many, many more victims. Now when Jeffries left Abercrombie and Fitch in 2014, it was reported that his departure was due to falling sales numbers, but a lawsuit says the real reasons? Well, they were much darker. And we're going to get into that lawsuit in just a minute. But by way of background, 80-year-old Mike Jeffries, he was arrested in his home state of Florida. He posted a $10 million bond, smiled for the cameras as he and his legal team got into a car outside the federal court in West Palm Beach. His partner, though, 61-year-old Matthew Smith, he had to stay locked up. Smith's a British citizen. So prosecutors

Starting point is 00:06:15 argued he had strong ties to the country. He could be a flight risk. Despite, by the way, never actually having a job with Abercrombie, many people have reported that Smith was involved in everything from shareholder meetings to marketing decisions. He was also in charge of a group called Jeffrey's Family Office, JFO, which sources claim was a front for infrastructure that was used to make this whole sex trafficking scheme work. And then you have 71-year-old James Jacobson, accused of being a recruiter for Jeffries and Smith, appeared in court in St. Paul, Minnesota yesterday, was freed on a $500,000 bond. And he and Jeffries, they both went home with GPS monitors. Now, these bombshell arrests, they come after an explosive BBC documentary that was released detailing this alleged abuse perpetrated by Jeffries and his co-conspirators.

Starting point is 00:07:06 It's called the Abercrombie guys, the dark side of cool. the culmination of a two-year investigation by the BBC. And one of the men featured in that documentary is American David Bradbury. And he is the one who filed a massive lawsuit last year against Mike Jeffries and also Abercrombie and Fitch, the company itself, detailing abuse that he says happened to him as he pursued a modeling career. And that is what we want to focus on right now. In fact, I should tell you, in September just now, his legal team filed an.

Starting point is 00:07:40 amended class action complaint. So now he's not only representing himself, he is speaking of half of others. He's the representative of a large group who might be victims in this case. And by the way, while the lawsuit mentions a third man whose role it was to recruit male models and try them out before they were sent on to Jeffries, he's not named as one of the defendants and he's not named actually identified in the lawsuit. I do wonder, could this perhaps be Jacobson, we just don't know. Anyway, before we dive into Bradbury's amended complaint, there's also something else that's interesting to note here. The lawyers for Sean Diddy Combs, they actually referenced Jeffrey's arrest in their letter to the judge in his own racketeering

Starting point is 00:08:26 and sex trafficking case because they're arguing that Combs should be released on bail now. Combs, by the way, he's been denied bail twice so far by two different judges. He's trying a third time. This case is now in front of the Honorable Arun Sumbermarian. And their letter reads, quote, under the bail reform act and controlling precedence, Mr. Combs is entitled to release, which has been granted to many similarly situated defendants, including just yesterday, a CEO accused of sex trafficking, dozens of young men, including through witness intimidation. The government's request for detention is not based on any genuine risk of danger or obstruction.

Starting point is 00:09:03 It is based on a desire to punish Mr. Combs. strip him of the presumption of innocence, and force him to defend himself from prison. The detention order was unlawful. It should be reversed. That's a compelling argument. That's going to be a compelling argument, how prosecutors in the Southern District may try to distinguish their case from the Jeffries case in the Eastern District. We shall see, but it's a compelling argument. Anyway, back to what Bradbury alleges in this lawsuit, and that's what we're going to talk about.

Starting point is 00:09:28 He doesn't just go after Mike Jeffries. He is going after Abercrombie, the company, claiming that they knew about Jeffrey's alleged pattern of horrific abuse and they just looked the other way because he was making the company so much money. The lawsuit begins this way. Abercrombie was an alter ego of Michael Jeffries. As detailed further herein, Jeffries was indistinguishable from Abercrombie and Abercrombie indistinguishable from Jeffries. That was the case from the time that he conceptualized the over-sexualization of young men to catapult the Abercrombie brand into success. And it remained the case when he used his role as CEO of Abercrombie.

Starting point is 00:10:06 to prey upon attractive young men who believed that Jeffries was going to hire them as an Abercrombie model, the pinnacle of the modeling industry for men during the relevant time period. Abercrombie knew that it was providing the financial lifeblood for a sex trafficking organization led by its CEO from at least 1992 through 2014 that allowed for him to commit sexual crimes against young men. Jeffries was so important to the profitability of the brand that he was given complete autonomy to perform his role as CEO, however he saw fit, including through the use of blatant international sex trafficking and sexual abuse of young men, any one of which could have also been prospective Abercrombie models. Really, really strong words there. And as the more than 100-page lawsuit

Starting point is 00:10:53 goes on, details, they get more graphic, they get more disturbing. But the idea is that the company provided him the resources to commit these crimes, and they received a benefit in exchange. the value that Jeffreys brought to the brand. All they cared about was profits. That's the allegation. Now, according to Bradbury's lawsuit, as well as the federal government and alleged victims in the BBC investigation,

Starting point is 00:11:16 Jeffries would hold parties referred to as sex events. These were disguised as casting calls for young models. The complaint says at the events, the models were then pressured, if not forced to take drugs, were surrounded by security, and were required to participate in sex acts with Jeffries and others, including Smith, all at Jeffrey's direction. The models were led to believe that being sexually abused by the CEO of Abercrombie

Starting point is 00:11:41 or his partner at a remote private location reasonably believed to be arranged by the company was the price that was paid to obtain one of the most coveted roles in the industry, an Abercrombie model. This fact was reiterated to them several times by several different people who were known to have knowledge of the inner workings of the industry. U.S. Attorney for New York's Eastern District, Breon Peace laid out some of the horrific allegations in a news conference on Wednesday that mirrors this.

Starting point is 00:12:09 Jeffries and Smith employed James Jacobson to act as a recruiter to fine men. Jacobson engaged in, quote, tryouts with men across the world where he would typically pay them to engage in sex acts with him. Following the tryouts with Jacobson, Smith would often then personally approve whether the men who were selected would meet Jeffries and Smith. The defendants would fly the selected men to Jeffries and Smith's homes in the Hamptons in New York City or to hotels around the world in such places as England, France, Italy, Morocco, and St. Barts for the purpose of attending events to engage in commercial sex. the defendants caused the men to believe that not complying with requests for certain acts, sex acts, during the events, could harm their careers.

Starting point is 00:13:10 The defendants pressured the men to consume alcohol, Viagra, and muscle relaxants known as poppers during the sex events, and they required the presence of staff during the sexual activity and ensured that the men did not leave the sex events until Jeffrey. and Smith decided that the sessions were over. Also, as alleged, on more than one occasion, Jeffries and Smith either directed others to inject or personally injected men with an erection-inducing substance for the purpose of causing the men to engage in sex acts that men were incapable of engaging in or unwilling to engage in.

Starting point is 00:13:55 Additionally, the indictment alleges on more than 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. Now, going back to Bradbury's lawsuit, it goes into a lot of graphic detail that we're just not going to get into right now. But according to the complaint, Jeffries and Smith, they would set up rooms in their New York home or at luxurious hotels where they would force young men to take drugs, perform various sex acts, which they say often left them disoriented and in pain. Bradbury claims that he was taken into a room where men were already engaging in group sex.

Starting point is 00:14:50 And when Jeffries asked him if he'd like to join, Bradbury said no, and then he says Jeffries raped him. According to Bradbury during the first of the apparent assaults he was subjected to, quote, he began to focus on the four older, larger physically fit men who appear to be security guards observing the activity in the room. These imposing men, dressed in Abercrombie clothing, caused Bradbury by way of forcible compulsion to feel like there was no way that he could leave the room safely or resist what Jeffreys was demanding. Also in the complaint, Bradbury alleges that security guards and other personnel were often armed with guns. It's kind of difficult to even process, right? Men participating in group sex, consensual or not, while guards stood around the perimeter of the room. That's a key component, by the way, of sex trafficking, using force or coercion to have someone engage in commercial sex acts.

Starting point is 00:15:48 And that's when you maybe promise something of value or you offer something of value in exchange. for sex. You don't always need the exchange of money for it to be commercial sex. If you are offering or promising career opportunities like becoming a model or career advancement, and you're doing that to induce someone to engage in sexual activity, and there's especially the transfer of people over state lines, that's sex trafficking. But there is a big difference between the criminal case and Bradbury's civil lawsuit. And that is that this class action lawsuit puts heavy amounts of blame on Abercrombie and Fitch as a company for allowing what they say is alleged heinous behavior. Abercrombie has not been criminally charged. But this complaint

Starting point is 00:16:35 in this lawsuit reads, Mike Jeffries was always on the clock working for Abercrombie. He utilized the Abercrombie plane to conduct Abercrombie business while traveling to hotel rooms that were decorated like Abercrombie storefronts, where he lured young men who were instructed to dress in Abercrombie clothes. The Abercrombie plane was paid for by Abercrombie. The hotel rooms were paid for by Abercrombie. And the corresponding expenses were put on the Abercrombie Company tab. So that connection between what is Jeffrey's alleged criminal activity and the company using the company resources, an agent of the company, that's how you create that liability. That's how you create that connection. Now later on in the Complated States, when Abercrombie

Starting point is 00:17:18 accounts and finances were not used to fund the cast. events, it was the Jeffrey's family office that paid to facilitate the sex trafficking venture. As a result, the Jeffrey's family office in Abercrombie were the two legal entities directed and controlled by Jeffries that were at the forefront and both directly and indirectly participated in the sex trafficking venture and the sexual abuse of class members. That's an important point I want to highlight. So sometimes a way a company will get out of being liable, they'll say, this actions of our employee. It was so separate from his or her work from the company. It was a private offense

Starting point is 00:17:55 they committed on their own. It's not connected to the company in any which way. They didn't use company resources. Here, Mike Jeffrey's CEO, if he was controlling or directing these assets to facilitate this alleged sex trafficking business, then that is how the company could be on the line. And to further show that Abercrombie itself was intimately involved in these casting call sex events, Bradbury's attorneys wrote, in order to prepare for the casting, David Bradbury was told to go to the flagship Abercrombie store in New York City. He was provided with Abercrombie gift cards to purchase the clothes, which have been pre-selected for him, and were set aside in Bradbury's correct sizes, ready for him to pick up upon his arrival at the store. This is absolute

Starting point is 00:18:42 the proof that everything Jeffries was doing with these prospective models, especially the casting events at his private homes and the Hamptons in Manhattan, were done in concert with Abercrombie, condoned, ratified, financed, and for the benefit of Abercrombie and with their direct knowledge. Bradbury also provided details about NDA's non-disclosure agreements that these potential models had to sign before they would even be allowed into so-called casting calls. The complaint reads, prior to attending an Abercrombie event with Jeffries, each class member was made to sign an overtly threatening non-disclosure agreement to prevent him from reporting the impending sexual abuse to anyone and preventing him from bringing civil or criminal justice against the defendants. Men were not permitted to read or review the document prior to being made to sign, and they were not permitted to retain a copy of the document after they signed. The non-disclosure agreements that class members were forced to sign were complex legal documents that were used to explicitly.

Starting point is 00:19:40 and implicitly threatened class members should they ever speak about the abuse or trafficking they endured at the hands of Jeffries, including by way of filing a lawsuit. And Bradbury's lawyers say that these NDAs were one of the reasons that men were so afraid to come forward with allegations against Mike Jeffries and Abercrombie. They didn't know exactly what was in the documents, but they were told that if they even, you know, breathe the word of it, the power of this billion-dollar brand would come down on them. I should tell you, though, as a matter of law, an NDA can't prevent you from talking to the police or prosecutors about alleged crimes. That's a no-no. NDAs will not work there.

Starting point is 00:20:19 Now, 2014, this is when Jeffrey stepped aside. It was actually the company's own supporters that seemed to turn against Jeffries. Because in this filing, or at least that's the allegation in this filing, it says in 2014, Jeffries and Abercrombie were sued in a verified stockholder derivative complaint. that alleged Abercrombie continued to pay Jeffrey's massive sums of money despite the company's declining performance towards the back end of Jeffrey's resign as CEO, all the while delegating managerial-like authority to his life partner Matthew Smith. The derivative suit further alleged that the Abercrombie board tolerated the creation of a corporate culture that resulted in completely avoidable lawsuits that tarnished the company as a result of Jeffrey's conduct. In fact, it was known to Abercrombie that Jeffries was using company funds to pay for excessive travel costs and expenses that included massive, multiple hotel rooms on business trips that Jeffries described as necessary to hold meetings. Consequently, the use of these hotel rooms paid for by Abercrombie are consistent with the allegations of class members being sexually abused and trafficked within those rooms as described further herein. So maybe using that situation as evidence in this case.

Starting point is 00:21:37 Now, according to this lawsuit, Jeffrey stepped down in 2015 with a $25 million retirement package. But what about the physical proof that Abercrombie knew what was going on? The complaint reads, after Jeffries left the company, Abercrombie was aware of and retained emails, electronically stored correspondence, and hard copy documents evidencing the years-long sexual abuse and trafficking scheme that was operated through and for the benefit of Abercrombie, Jeffries, and Smith. So during the course of discovery, in this litigation, that material they're hoping to get their hands on, that will definitely be a negotiating tactic in order to try to settle this case, because who knows what that documentation really could hold and

Starting point is 00:22:21 how helpful it could be to their case. Now, in the end, this class action lawsuit lists 19 causes of action or claims, what you're suing for. And some are aimed, directly at one defendant or another, others against the companies allegedly involved. For instance, you have battery, you have intentional infliction of emotional distress, you have aiding and abetting, conspiracy to violate the anti-sex trafficking statute. That's basically there has to be an illegal agreement between Jeffries and Abercrombie and Fitch. And a quick call out here, too. Bradbury cites the Adult Survivors Act law in New York and New York's gender-motivated

Starting point is 00:23:00 violence law. These actually provide plaintiffs to sue for assaults or violence that was inflicted upon them that may otherwise have been time barred. They're too old. They're barred by the statute of limitations. But these laws allow you to sue because they provide a look back window. They provide a look back window to sue. So even if your claims are old, this is a way to ultimately sue under these laws. Okay. So in the end, incredibly disturbing allegations. We shall see what happens with this lawsuit. And we shall see what role these claims and Mr. Bradbury play in the now upcoming criminal case. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube,

Starting point is 00:23:47 wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

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Law&Crime Sidebar - 11 Sickening Details of Ex-Abercrombie CEO's 'Casting Calls' in Male Model Rape Lawsuit

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