A journalistic investigation by the British network BBC has revealed an alleged plot of sexual exploitation of men within the Abercrombie & Fitch modeling brand and specifically points to its Former CEO Mike Jeffries and his British partner Matthew Smithfor organizing events around the world in which sexually exploited young people.

Specifically, the BBC uncovers a “very organized network” who used an intermediary, James Jacobson, to recruit young people for private events for Jeffries and Smith between 2009 and 2015. Up to eight men have explained how they were taken to these events in which some were subjected to “abuse” or “exploitation” , always in exchange for money and with the opportunity to work as a model for the company.

Half of those interviewed claim to have felt deceived because they were not told that they would require sexual services. The rest did understand that they were sexual encounters, but it was not explained to them what was expected of them. Only one of them said they did not feel harmed.

One of the young people, David Bradberry He has reported that he was introduced to Jacobson in 2010, when he was 23 years old, and that Jacobson told him that if he did not let him perform oral sex on him he would not be able to see Mike Jeffries. “That’s how everyone starts,” he told her before paying her $500 “for your time.” He then traveled to the mansion of Jeffries in New York where he gave him drugs to snort and then sexually assaulted him.

Other young people were taken to mansions and hotels in London, Morocco or the south of France in which the owners of Abercrombie & Fitch maintained relationships with up to four young people to whom they later gave envelopes full of money.

Possible crime of sex trafficking

The intermediary stressed that there was nothing illegal in all of this and that young people went to these events “with their eyes wide open” and the company has responded to these accusations to express its “desolation and indignation.”

Two former US prosecutors have reviewed the documentation and testimonies collected by the BBC and have called for an investigation into a possible crime of sex trafficking, a criminal offense contemplated in the United States for anyone who transfers an adult to another country to have sexual relations in exchange for money by resorting to force, fraud or coercion.

“Now, after months of meticulous investigations, reporter Rianna Croxford speaks to men who say they have been captured and introduced into a dark world,” highlights the BBC. Jeffries left the management of the company in 2014 after a crisis in sales and with a retirement of close to 24 million euros.