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Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries arrested on sex trafficking charges

By Kelly Hayes
Published  October 22, 2024 7:13am MST
Crime and Public Safety
FOX TV Stations

Mike Jeffries, the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, was arrested on sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges, a spokesperson for federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Details of the criminal charges weren't immediately available, but they come after years of sexual misconduct allegations made in civil lawsuits and the media from young people who claimed Jeffries lured them with promises of modeling work and then pressed them into sex acts.

FILE - Mike Jeffries, the former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO, is pictured in a file image. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic for Paul Wilmot Communications)

Jeffries was arrested in West Palm Beach, Florida, NBC News and CNBC both reported, citing authorities. 

Two others were arrested, identified as Matthew Smith of West Palm Beach and James Jacobson of Wisconsin, in connection with sex trafficking charges, the news outlets reported.

Jeffries was the CEO of the New Albany, Ohio-based Abercrombie & Fitch from 1992 to 2014. 

Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney Breon Peace and FBI and police officials were set to hold a news conference at 12 p.m. ET Tuesday. 

A message from the Associated Press seeking comment was left for Brian Bieber, an attorney who has represented Jeffries. Information on attorneys for the other defendants wasn't immediately available, the AP reported.

One civil lawsuit filed in New York last year accused Abercrombie of allowing Jeffries to run a sex-trafficking organization during his 22-year tenure. It said that Jeffries had modeling scouts scouring the internet for victims, and that some prospective models became sex-trafficking victims.

Abercrombie last year said it had hired an outside law firm to conduct an independent investigation after a report on similar allegations was aired by the BBC.

The BBC investigation included a dozen men who described being at events involving sex acts they said were staged by Jeffries and his partner, Smith, often at his home in New York and hotels in London, Paris and elsewhere.

When the civil lawsuit was filed in New York last year, Bieber declined to comment on the allegations.