Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO accused of
exploiting young men for sex
Eight men tell BBC Panorama they attended events
involving sex acts run for Mike Jeffries and his partner, some after sexual
‘auditions’
Donna
Ferguson
Mon 2 Oct
2023 21.58 BST
The former
CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch has been accused of exploiting young men for sex
at events he and his partner hosted in the US and around the world, according
to a BBC investigation.
Most of the
men also allege that a middleman, who was hired by the fashion brand’s former
boss Mike Jeffries, sexually “auditioned” them by requesting or offering to
perform oral sex on them, before the young men were introduced to him and his
partner, Matthew Smith.
As part of
a two-year investigation for Panorama, the BBC reporter Rianna Croxford spoke
to eight men who described attending events between 2009 and 2015 that involved
sex acts and were run for Jeffries, 79, and Smith, 60.
Jeffries,
who was once one of America’s highest-paid CEOs, stepped down from A&F in
2014. Half the men recruited have alleged that they were initially misled about
the nature of the events or were not told sex was expected. Others said they
understood the events would involve sex, but not exactly what was expected of
them.
Some of the
men alleged they were exploited or abused and several told the BBC the possibility
of modelling contracts with A&F was raised before they met Jeffries and
Smith.
They also
told the BBC that, at the events, Jeffries and Smith would engage in sexual
activity with about four men or “direct” them to have sex with each other.
Afterwards, the men said staff at the event handed them envelopes filled with
thousands of dollars in cash. All except one said they felt harmed by the
experience.
Appearing
on a Panorama special episode, The Abercrombie Guys: The Dark Side of Cool, one
of the young men, the former model Barrett Pall, told Croxford: “My feeling of
being in that room was: an animal. I was not a human to any of these people. I
was a body. I was being presented to someone, to do what they wanted with.
“What
happened to me changed my life – and not for the better,” he added, and
appeared to break down on camera.
Two former
US prosecutors, Brad Edwards and Elizabeth Geddes, have called for an
investigation to determine whether charges for sex trafficking should be
brought, after independently reviewing the BBC’s evidence.
The men
described the middleman they met as missing part of his nose, which he covered
with a snakeskin patch. The BBC has identified him as James Jacobson.
David
Bradberry, then 23, said he was introduced to Jacobson by an agent who
described him as the gatekeeper to “the owners” of A&F in 2010, but said
there was no mention of sex.
At their
meeting, he said Jacobson suggested A&F’s official photographer should take
his picture. Then, Bradberry said: “Jim made it clear to me that unless I let
him perform oral sex on me, that I would not be meeting with Abercrombie &
Fitch or Mike Jeffries.”
“I was
paralysed,” he said. “It was like he was selling fame. And the price was
compliance.”
Jacobson
said in a statement through his lawyer that he took offence at the suggestion
of “any coercive, deceptive or forceful behaviour on my part” and had “no
knowledge of any such conduct by others”.
The
70-year-old said he did not recall making promises of modelling opportunities.
“Any
encounter I had was fully consensual,” he said. “Everyone I came into contact
with who attended these events went in with their eyes wide open.”
Jeffries
and Smith did not respond to repeated requests to comment on the allegations by
the BBC and did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request to comment.
A&F,
which considers Jeffries its modern-day founder, told the BBC it was “appalled
and disgusted” by his alleged behaviour. It said new leadership has transformed
the company into “the values-driven organisation we are today” and it has “zero
tolerance for abuse, harassment or discrimination of any kind”.
The
Panorama special, The Abercrombie Guys: The Dark Side of Cool, is on BBC One at
9pm on Monday and is available on BBC iPlayer now. The first seven episodes of
the 10-part podcast series, World of Secrets: Season One – The Abercrombie
Guys, will be available on BBC Sounds from 9pm on Monday.
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