The former longstanding chief executive of Abercrombie & Fitch, Michael S. Jeffries, was reportedly apprehended on Tuesday in connection with a federal sex-trafficking and interstate prostitution case.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have announced that Mr. Jeffries, who was the proprietor of the clothing retailer from 1992 to 2014, is currently facing allegations associated with sex trafficking.
The charges were brought one year after a BBC investigation and a class-action lawsuit accused Mr. Jeffries of seducing young men to events worldwide where they were sexually exploited with the promise of modeling employment at Abercrombie.
According to John Marzulli, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York, Mr. Jeffries and his companion, Matthew Smith, were apprehended in Florida on Tuesday morning.
They are anticipated to appear in federal court in West Palm Beach later that day. Mr. Marzulli also reported that James Jacobson, a third individual, was apprehended in Wisconsin on Tuesday in connection with the case.
Jacobson is scheduled to appear in federal court in St. Paul, Minnesota.
It is anticipated that the prosecutor’s office, the F.B.I., and the New York Police Department will provide additional details regarding the case during a news conference planned for Tuesday afternoon.
Abercrombie was additionally accused of complicity in the sex-trafficking scheme by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit launched last year.
The allegations against Mr. Jeffries were disregarded by the company, according to the lawsuit. Mr. Jeffries’s detention and the lawsuit against Abercrombie were not addressed by a spokesperson for the company.
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