Abercrombie & Fitch Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Alleges Ex-CEO ‘Sexually Terrorize[d]’ Aspiring Male Models [UPDATE]

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (A&F) has been hit with an explosive proposed class action lawsuit over the alleged involvement of former CEO Michael Jeffries in a widespread sex-trafficking operation whereby Jeffries used his position with the fashion brand to prey upon young, attractive men seeking modeling careers. 

The 128-page lawsuit, filed in New York federal court on October 27, alleges A&F knew that it was serving as the financial muscle for a sex-trafficking group led by Jeffries from at least 1992 through 2014, a time during which Jeffries, the suit says, was “so important to the profitability of the brand” that he was given essentially carte blanche to fulfill his role as he saw fit.

Per the case, A&F “turned a blind eye” while Jeffries used his position as CEO to lure aspiring models to his private New York residences and other locations around the world to be sexually abused “under the guise of becoming the next Abercrombie model.” 

In exchange for providing Jeffries with his executive position and “unfettered access to corporate funds necessary” for him to “sexually terrorize male models,” A&F knowingly and intentionally benefited from the arrangement, the lawsuit alleges. 

“[A]s a by-product of the sex-trafficking venture, Abercrombie was able to employ male models to further promote their brand image, while simultaneously keeping Jeffries happy and productive, allowing him to rebrand the company’s image and transform it into a billion-dollar industry leader.”

The lawsuit’s filing comes less than a month after the BBC published the results of a two-year investigation that found that Jeffries and his partner, co-defendant Matthew Smith, had been accused of exploiting men recruited for “sex events” they hosted around the world, behavior that was reportedly an open secret internally at A&F. 

According to the suit, Abercrombie & Fitch “knew about, endorsed, and ratified” Jeffries’ and Smith’s wielding of the fashion brand to “sexually abuse young men” who, once under Jeffries’ control, knew that they must bow to the CEO’s every demand or else face “serious reputational, financial, and psychological harm.” 

The lawsuit accuses A&F, Jeffries, Smith and The Jeffries Family Office, LLC of violating federal and state anti-sex trafficking laws, as well as the New York Adult Survivors Act. 

Male models “forced to take drugs and participate in sex acts” at purported casting sessions, lawsuit claims

As the lawsuit tells it, Jeffries, who stepped down as A&F CEO in 2014, has been referred to as “the heart and soul of Abercrombie,” someone who constantly worked “for the brand” and came to conceptualize early on the “oversexualization of young men,” which ultimately helped catapult A&F to worldwide success. Upon taking the helm at A&F in 1992, Jeffries, who eventually became one of the country’s highest paid CEOs, worked to transform the company into “a brand aimed at teens with extreme sexual appeal featuring half naked models,” the filing relays. 

As CEO, Jeffries had a team of purported modeling scouts scour the internet and elsewhere in search of attractive young men to appear in A&F ads, the case says. If a scout, with whom the case alleges aspiring models were often forced to have sex against their will in order to move on in the casting process, saw “potential” in a model, he would be invited to attend a “casting” at Jeffries’ home with his partner, Smith, the filing states. 

Before the casting, the suit claims, the model would often be provided with A&F clothing to wear at the event, and an A&F gift card would be left at a store for the model to pick up and spend on the required attire. The prospective model would also receive a detailed call sheet outlining travel arrangements to Jeffries’ “palatial” Hamptons estate in New York, the case notes. 

Once at Jeffries’ home, the lawsuit continues, each model would conduct an interview with the CEO, after which he would be “forced to strip down so that Jeffries could view his body,” which the suit says was “not uncommon” in modeling interviews with major fashion brands. After this part of the interview, the models were made to sign non-disclosure agreements, barring them from discussing the interview and casting session, the filing says.

From there, the aspiring models were, according to the lawsuit, “suddenly […] taken into rooms where men were engaging in sex with one another” and “then forced to take drugs and to participate in sex acts with Jeffries and others, including Smith, all at Jeffries’s direction.” 

The case claims that the aspiring A&F models were led to believe that being sexually abused by Jeffries, given his position at the head of the company, and his partner “at a remote private location” was simply the price to be paid for “one of the most coveted roles in the industry,” that of an Abercrombie & Fitch model. In fact, others in the industry told the aspiring models that this process was effectively normal, the filing adds. 

Ultimately, A&F’s “crucial support” behind Jeffries’ alleged activities allowed him to “successfully rape, sexually assault, and coercively sex traffic” the plaintiff and countless other proposed class members. The filing accuses A&F of allowing Jeffries to use company resources with “little-to-no meaningful oversight” despite the fact that the brand had for years made hush money payments to victims and others over Jeffries’ alleged sexual harassment and abuse. 

The suit asserts that it was simply not possible for Jeffries and Smith to carry on with the alleged sex-trafficking operation “without the assistance and complicity of the company itself.” 

“Knowing that it would earn millions of dollars in exchange for facilitating Jeffries’s sex abuse and trafficking, Abercrombie chose profits over following the law,” the proposed class action charges, alleging the brand chose to “keep its sexually abusive CEO at the helm and to churn profits.” 

The lawsuit states that although “the majority of class members have either not yet come forward or have come forward but wish to remain anonymous,” the plaintiff, David Bradberry, and others, including Barrett Pall, have spoken publicly about their abuse. Per the complaint, both Bradberry and Pall made it to the final stages of the A&F casting process and were promised that, “so long as they engaged in commercial sex acts with Jeffries, Smith and his associates,” they would be given the opportunity to model for the company. 

“Abercrombie and Jeffries had knowledge that this information was false,” the lawsuit alleges, stating that neither Bradberry nor Pall nor other class members would have attended the defendants’ supposed casting sessions had they known they were, in reality, “sex-trafficking events.” 

The BBC report, published on October 2, says that two former United States prosecutors who have independently reviewed documents and testimony uncovered by the outlet have called for an inquiry as to whether sex trafficking charges should be filed. For its investigation, the BBC, over two years, spoke to 12 men, including Bradberry, who said they attended organized sex events for Jeffries and Smith between 2009 and 2015. 

Who’s covered by the Abercrombie & Fitch lawsuit?

The lawsuit looks to cover all men who were sexually abused or trafficked by Abercrombie & Fitch, Michael Jeffries, Matthew Smith, or any of their associates during the time when A&F employed Jeffries as CEO, including 1992 through 2014.

The suit says that the proposed class includes at least 100 victims.

A PDF of the proposed class action lawsuit is embedded below. Warning: The content in the complaint is graphic. 

To learn why you typically do not need to do anything to join or sign up for a proposed class action lawsuit, click here. 

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