Extra males accuse ex-Abercrombie boss of sexual exploitation

Extra males have come ahead to the BBC accusing the previous chief government of Abercrombie & Fitch and his British companion of sexual exploitation. Some allege they have been abused, and a few that they have been injected with medication.

Luke says he was shocked as he was guided into Mike Jeffries’ presidential suite in a lodge in Spain. “It was like a film set of an Abercrombie retailer,” he remembers of the occasion in 2011. “And I believed we have been going to do a photoshoot.”

He says the room was dimly lit with erotic photographs of males’s abs adorning the darkish partitions. Within the center, a bunch of assistants wearing Abercrombie & Fitch uniforms – polos, blue denims and flip-flops – have been casually folding garments on a desk, pretending to be store staff, he says.

Then aged 20, Luke says he had been provided the possibility of being in an organization advert if he flew from his dwelling in Los Angeles to Madrid to fulfill the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F).

Luke says the proposal had come by way of a modelling web site from a person who mentioned he labored as a expertise scout and government assistant for Mr Jeffries – then head of the billion-dollar teen retailer.

Warning: This story accommodates accounts of sexual violence

Within the suite, he says Mr Jeffries’ assistants started participating in role-play, encouraging him to behave as a shirtless greeter, a trademark of A&F shops on the time. Luke says he remembers the expertise scout saying: “Now I’ve two crucial friends, and these are going to be the shoppers that you could impress and entertain as a result of they will be shopping for plenty of garments from you.”

At that second, he says Mr Jeffries and his life companion, Matthew Smith, got here out of a nook of the room. They instantly began touching him and Mr Jeffries forcibly kissed him, he says. “I used to be attempting to keep away from the entire state of affairs as a lot as I may, however Michael was very aggressive.” He says the Abercrombie boss then carried out oral intercourse on him.

“I attempted to say no repeatedly. After which I simply bought sort of satisfied to do one thing. However I continually was saying no, and I needed to go.”

___

Luke (not his actual title) is considered one of eight extra males who’ve spoken to the BBC up to now 12 months since we revealed allegations of sexual exploitation at occasions hosted by Mr Jeffries and Mr Smith. The FBI launched an investigation following the BBC’s reporting, and 20 males in complete have now advised us they attended or helped organise these occasions.

In addition to Luke’s allegation, the brand new witnesses reveal contemporary particulars in regards to the scale of the occasions, which happened from a minimum of 2009 till 2015 whereas Mr Jeffries was chief government.

The BBC beforehand discovered there had been a complicated operation involving a intermediary tasked with discovering males for these occasions, however the brand new testimonies element extra recruitment strategies.

The lads additionally elevate new questions in regards to the position of Mr Jeffries’ assistants – a choose group of younger males in A&F uniforms who travelled world wide with him and supervised these intercourse occasions.

In line with a number of males, Mr Jeffries’ assistants injected some attendees within the penis with what they have been advised was liquid Viagra.

Chris, not his actual title, advised the BBC he felt he was “going to die” after considered one of these injections precipitated an excessive response throughout an occasion at considered one of Mr Jeffries’ New York houses. Feeling “scorching, dizzy” and in shock, he mentioned no person known as for an ambulance. Nonetheless disorientated, he mentioned Mr Jeffries and Mr Smith, who had been ready in one other room, then tried to have intercourse with him.

Former mannequin Keith Milkie, 31, says considered one of Mr Jeffries’ assistants had additionally “bragged” about having performed some work for Abercrombie & Fitch similtaneously working at these intercourse occasions. He says this assistant was named on an occasion itinerary and the BBC discovered he additionally had an A&F firm electronic mail.

Whereas private assistants of Mr Jeffries’ have been typically wearing A&F uniforms, that is the primary declare {that a} member of A&F employees was concerned within the working of Mr Jeffries’ intercourse occasions. When the BBC requested the corporate about this, it declined to reply, saying it doesn’t touch upon authorized issues.

Mr Jeffries, 80, Mr Smith, 61, and A&F – which additionally owns the model Hollister – are going through a civil lawsuit alleging the retailer funded a sex-trafficking operation over the 20 years he had been in cost.

Mr Smith and Mr Jeffries didn’t reply to requests for remark. Nonetheless, their legal professionals’ have beforehand mentioned they deny allegations of wrongdoing, including: “The courtroom is the place we’ll take care of this matter.”

One former attendee, Diego Guillen, who says he has been interviewed by the FBI, advised the BBC he was paid $500 (£380) each Saturday to make wake-up calls to males anticipated to attend these intercourse occasions in 2011. He estimated he made about 80 calls over seven months.

Mr Guillen, 42, says there was additionally a roster of attendees. Different sources have mentioned this “database” may have as many as 60 totally different males on it at any given time, revealing a snapshot of the size of these recruited.

He says he had initially attended intercourse occasions at Mr Jeffries’ former New York houses after being recruited on the road by the couple’s intermediary, James Jacobson.

Mr Guillen, now a lawyer and actual property dealer who runs his personal agency, says he had by no means had intercourse for cash earlier than, however on the time he was unemployed and homeless, sleeping in a good friend’s workplace. Regardless of his circumstances then, he says he didn’t really feel exploited.

After the FBI turned up at his door, Mr Guillen says he contacted Mr Jeffries’ lawyer who despatched a non-public investigator to interview him to assist construct their authorized defence.

Mr Guillen says the opposite males current on the occasions he attended had been “beneath no obligation, beneath zero strain” and “paid fairly nicely”.

“Michael and Matthew are excessive profile homosexual males and appreciated having intercourse with younger, good-looking males. And being older, they knew that the true technique to get this performed was to be beneficiant,” he says. “However with full consent and ensuring that the [men] needed it and appreciated it. And that is it.”

In contrast to different males who have been recruited by the intermediary, Luke says his preliminary contact was an assistant working for Mr Jeffries’ household workplace – a non-public firm run by Mr Smith, which managed the then-CEO’s wealth and properties.

Luke says this assistant interviewed him over Skype, telling him to count on to be topless for the Madrid lodge photoshoot, however there have been no apparent crimson flags. This man then organised his journey and lodging, he says.

“It did not seem to be something too out of the extraordinary for me as a result of even working at an Abercrombie retailer once I was youthful, there was guys who would stand outdoors shirtless. That was like a trademark factor,” says Luke.

Leaked journey plans present Mr Jeffries was scheduled to be in Madrid a number of instances in 2011 forward of opening an actual A&F retailer.

The night time earlier than the occasion, Luke says he was paid €3,500 (£2,950) in money, which he believed was “common spending cash” for the three days he was in Madrid. However he says the assistant was “obscure” in regards to the plan.

He says within the lodge suite, Mr Jeffries and Mr Smith started having intercourse with two barely older males – one he thought was in his 30s and the opposite in his 40s – current for a similar occasion. Luke says Mr Jeffries’ then began kissing him. Quickly after, he says Mr Jeffries carried out oral intercourse on him and Mr Smith tried to do the identical. He says he tried to carry out “some type of oral” intercourse on Mr Jeffries, however “could not”.

“I am getting fired as a result of I did not do what this man needed,” Luke remembers considering, believing he was about to lose his probability of a modelling job. “I may have simply ran out of that room, however I did not even understand how I might have gotten out.”

Luke says he felt unable to depart as Mr Jeffries’ assistants – whom he perceived as safety employees – have been “watching exits”.

Again dwelling within the US, he says he felt unable to report what occurred due to the non-disclosure settlement he had signed previous to the occasion.

“There’s an immense quantity of disgrace related to this concept that you simply’re not a masculine man in case you’ve been molested or taken benefit of by one other man,” says Luke, who identifies as straight.

“My entire life I’ve struggled with individuals considering that I am homosexual and I bought bullied in highschool as a result of I’ve a comfortable voice. The very last thing on earth I used to be going to do is say one thing emasculating, like, I bought molested and orally raped by a man.”

Luke says what occurred in Madrid was “rocket gasoline” for a drug habit he later developed. In 2016, he was arrested for promoting medication and served six months in a correctional boot camp. He now runs his personal enterprise alongside serving to individuals with addictions.

Keith Milkie says he attended quite a few occasions hosted by Mr Jeffries and Mr Smith between 2012 and 2014. He says he understood these occasions can be sexual however that nothing Mr Jacobson mentioned may “put together you for what is going on to occur” subsequent.

Then aged about 20, Mr Milkie says he had been struggling to pay his lease after being invited to maneuver to New York by an agent, who ran a home filled with aspiring fashions. He says a housemate quickly launched the concept of escorting, and a contact later launched him to Mr Jacobson.

Mr Milkie, who recognized as straight on the time, says he discovered a few of the occasions “uncomfortable” and “painful”. On one event, in Paris, he says Mr Jeffries instructed him to have intercourse with one other man, which he “didn’t need or take pleasure in”.

Throughout one other, he says he was verbally abused by Mr Jeffries after saying “no” to a dangerous sexual act whereas on board the Queen Mary 2, an ocean liner which sails from England to New York. He says Mr Jeffries was drunk and tried to insert a “bleeding finger” into him.

“I used to be within the mattress placing on a pretend smile, crying on the within,” he says. “Right here I’m in the midst of the ocean having this individual 4 instances my age in that place of energy and affect belittle me to demise and actually name me nugatory… just because I mentioned no to one thing.”

He says Mr Jacobson paid him about $24,000 (£18,400) in money for the seven-night cruise.

In line with his occasion itineraries, which had been despatched by Mr Jacobson, one other of those intercourse occasions was simply days after it had been publicly introduced Mr Jeffries was stepping down as CEO of A&F in December 2014. Mr Milkie believes that ultimate assembly marked the top of those occasions.

“The personification of Mike Jeffries is Abercrombie. He had the hair plugs, the cosmetic surgery, he wore the garments, he wore the flip-flops. I imply, you speak about energy. He projected his picture on the whole nation. His locations the place he lived have been actually an Abercrombie retailer. It was like fantasy land,” he says.

“With out that type of energy, that type of concern and affect, I think about it is identical to rather a lot tougher to maintain individuals quiet, which is why years later individuals are speaking about it.”

After the BBC’s preliminary investigation was printed final 12 months, A&F introduced it was opening an impartial investigation into the allegations raised. After we lately requested when this report will probably be accomplished – and if the findings can be made public – the corporate declined to reply.

Like Mr Jeffries and Mr Smith, the model has been attempting to get the civil lawsuit in opposition to it dismissed, arguing it had no information of “the supposed sex-trafficking enterprise” led by its former CEO – which it has been accused of getting funded.

Earlier this 12 months, a US courtroom dominated that A&F should cowl the price of Mike Jeffries’ authorized defence as he continues to battle the civil allegations of sex-trafficking and rape. The choose dominated the allegations have been tied to his company position after he sued the model for refusing to pay his authorized charges.

The model mentioned it doesn’t touch upon authorized issues. Nonetheless, in its defence submitted to courtroom, A&F mentioned its present management workforce was “beforehand unaware of” the allegations till the BBC contacted it, including the corporate “abhors sexual abuse and condemns the alleged conduct” by Mr Jeffries and others.

Mr Jacobson – the intermediary – beforehand mentioned in an announcement by his lawyer that he took offence on the suggestion of “any coercive, misleading or forceful behaviour on my half” and had “no information of any such conduct by others”.