Pablo Scarpellini Los Angeles

The Angels

Updated Saturday, February 3, 2024-01:52

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At its peak, at the beginning of the century, it was the posh brand of the moment in the United States. The multi-story store on Fifth Avenue in New York became an attraction for tourists and passers-by,

with its light models of clothing at the entrance, low lights throughout the premises

and an intense smell of perfume on the clothes. He exuded a characteristic aura of eroticism that attracted the masses for years. The brand went out of fashion and plummeted due to a scandal: the denunciation of a network of sexual abuse towards workers. Now it rises from its ashes with a facelift in which it tends towards inclusion and a very positive stock market price. Despite this, his record is full of stains.

In October, eight men explained in a BBC documentary and podcast that they were victims of sexual abuse by Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries and his partner,

the British Matthew Smith, who were allegedly responsible for a sex trafficking ring.

The events occurred during events held in various parts of the world, including New York, London, Paris and Marrakech between 2019 and 2015.

According to their stories, both Jeffries, 77, and Smith, had relationships with young people

or asked them to have sex with each other,

a matter that is now in the hands of an FBI unit specialized in crimes of a sexual nature and by federal prosecutors of the Eastern District of New York, as confirmed by the same British network a few days ago.

The BBC investigation found documents that revealed an organized plot

to transport the men to various events.

All of this was coordinated by an intermediary, James Jacobson, 70, who according to the British media was willing to give all kinds of details about what was happening at those parties in exchange for not mentioning his name. The BBC refused to agree with him.

Mike Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie until 2014

Jacobson did declare that the young people who have reported the abuse

knew very well what they were going for, "with their eyes wide open."

However, in the documentary,

The Abercrombie Guys: The Dark Side of Cool

, one of the witnesses, hiding under the name Alex, claims that he was raped at one of the events organized by the couple in Morocco.

He was hired to dance and model but ended up being

forced to perform oral sex after being drugged.

He doesn't remember when he fell asleep but he woke up with a condom in his anus. He now has AIDS, a disease he believes he may have contracted at one of those events in Morocco.

Two of those affected by the plot, Barrett Pall and David Bradberry, implicated Jacobson in the sex trafficking ring, filing a lawsuit against the clothing brand, Jeffries and his partner. Bradberry

alleges that the hook was always the "unique modeling opportunity"

that ultimately resulted in sexual exploitation. "Jeffries was so important to the brand's profitability that he was given complete autonomy to carry out his role as CEO as he saw fit, including through the blatant use of international sex trafficking and the abuse of potential Abercrombie models," the company explains. demand.

Bradberry explains that he was 23 years old when he had his first meeting with the former CEO of the corporation. She dreamed that this opportunity would take her modeling career to the next level. It was, at that time, the dream job for any young man in his profession. But instead of a professional appointment she found a much more unfavorable scenario.

Either there was sex involved or she couldn't meet Jeffries.

The young model was forced to sign a confidentiality agreement before a casting event in May 2010. They

gave him money and branded clothing to attend.

According to the complaint,

Jeffries raped him

before forcing him to have sexual relations with other men during a party at her house in the Hamptons, the vacation destination of New York's high society.

Jeffries is described in legal documents as the figure who "conceptualized the oversexualization of young men to catapult Abercrombie to success," and the same one who used his power as CEO

"to take advantage of attractive young men

who believed Jeffries was out to get them." to hire as Abercrombie models. And he goes further by implicating the company in this criminal modus operandi. "Abercrombie knew that it was providing financial support to a sex trafficking organization run by its CEO from at least 1992 to 2014," the lawsuit explains. The models

were made to believe that these practices were the key to entry to a permanent job.

Bradberry was given $2,500 and a plane ticket to Nice and then London, convinced that it was just work. He was abused again both times.

Abercrombie has condemned the shady affair, stating that they are "horrified and disgusted" by what happened. In addition, they have frozen a part of Jeffries' pension plan, who still receives compensation close to a million dollars a year from his former company. However, the lawyers of the two alleged victims of the former president maintain the opposite.

"Knowing that they would make millions of dollars in exchange for facilitating Jeffries' sexual abuse

and trafficking, Abercrombie chose profits over upholding the law."

It is the latest blow for a corporation that has had to overcome the particular policies of its former CEO in the past. His philosophy led to

a class-action lawsuit in 2003 for racism and exclusion of women

and minorities in hiring. The case was resolved with compensation of $50 million for those affected.