Transcript of Ex- Abercrombie & Fitch CEO charged with sex trafficking over a dozen alleged victims

Tonight, the shocking arrest of the man who helped launch Abercrombie & Fitch to must wear brand status. The accusers numbering more than a dozen. Their allegations, horrifying. Here's ABC's Senior Investigative Correspondent, Aaron Ketursky.

We're here today to announce the arrest and charging of three defendants.

It was a stunning announcement.

Former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, Michael Jeffries, Matthew Smith, and James Jacobson.

The former CEO of one of America's most celebrated brands, Abercrombie & Fitch, arrested along with his romantic partner and a business associate.

Their sex trafficking and prostitution enterprise lasted at least from the end of 2008 until early 2015. They spent millions of dollars on a massive infrastructure to support this operation and maintain its secrecy.

Jeffrey, who stepped down from Abercrombie in 2014, is accused by law enforcement of using his power and wealth to traffic and sexually exploit more than a dozen young men around the world, many of them aspiring models. The '16 Count' indictment includes charges of sex trafficking and prostitution. At the heart of the case, the allegations of 15 John Doe's.

It's jaw-dropping and shocking in every twist and turn of his case. We've seen Art Kelly go down on similar charges. In the Southern district of New York, Sean Holmes, is facing the exact same charges.

When I saw the charges come down, I said, Perhaps this is a continuation of the reckoning that I think we are starting to see in this world of arts and entertainment moving forward.

The arrests are relief to those who have alleged in civil lawsuits, they were victimized.

This, what feels like an evil villain, continued to use his power to harm a lot of people. And I don't think he feels bad about it.

To anyone who thinks they can exploit and coerce others by using the so-called casting couch system, this case should serve as a warning.

Jeffrey's and his romantic partner, Matthew Smith, were arrested in Palm Beach, Florida. Jeffrey Jeffries is now released on a $10 million bond while Smith remains detained. Their attorneys issued identical statements saying, We will respond in detail to the allegations after the indictment is unsealed and when appropriate, but plan to do so in the courthouse, not the media. Jacobson was arrested in Wisconsin. He appeared in a Minnesota courtroom and was released on bail. His attorneys declined to comment. Court documents allege the length. Jeffrey's, his partner Smith, and their business associate, Jacobson, used to lure young men to sex events around the globe, from New York to Europe and Morocco.

This indictment is that these three men would use the allure of a modeling career or being associated with Amber Cromby and Fitch to seduce and also allegedly rape many of these men.

Prosecutor The prosecutor said the itineraries for some of the events made no mention of sex and instead, resembled those often sent to models for photoshoots. Jacobson allegedly acted as a recruiter for Jeffrey Smith.

Jacobson engaged in, quote, tryouts with men across the world where he would typically pay them to engage in sex acts with him.

The federal indictment alleges that prior to sex events, the John Doe's were physically groomed, including at times shaving men's genitals without advanced notice.

There are two things that stood out to me to the indictment. One, the network that was made and used to facilitate the sex trafficking, but also the use of drugs to induce ere so that people who could not or would not participate in sexual acts were forced to do so.

The defendants pressured the men to consume alcohol, Viagra, and muscle relaxants, known as poppers, during the sex events.

At the sex events, the indictment alleges staff controlled the entry and exit and directed men to wear costumes and use sex toys. Prosecutors claimed the victims were sometimes paid for attending the events and forced to sign nondisclosure agreements. It's a staggering fall for the once highly successful CEO of Abercrombian Fitch.

Mike Jeffrey's expanded Abercrombian Abra Cromby & Fitch from a small apparel store in the United States to a massive enterprise throughout the world.

Jeffries helped turn the brand into a cultural phenomenon.

In the mid to late '90s, specifically, Abra Cromby & Fitch was everywhere. It was very much giving coastal, prep boy energy. Very preppy, very country clubby, very much the moment.

Popular among teens, Abra Cromby's marketing campaigns in commercials like these, selling sexy images of shirtless men and barely dressed women. Going viral before the word viral was part of the lexicon and sparking controversy, too.

The boundaries were absolutely pushed about what was socially acceptable at that time to get this attention. So what you saw in these advertisements a lot of times were a lack of clothing. It's a clothing brand, but you didn't see a lot of clothing.

The Abercrombie look immortalized in songs like LFO's 1999, nine hit Summer Girls.

Has everyone to look like a model at Abercrombie? It was influential in our music to the way that people dress and the way that people acted.

Some of the models became Hollywood heavyweights. Janine Tatum, Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Lawrence, Olivia Wilde, and Heidi Klum.

For an inspiring model to land and add with Abercrombie and Fitch, I mean, that's the penultimate, especially if you're a young male model. The opportunities aren't as vast for you as they are for your female counterparts.

But the company's sales began to sputter in 2011, with Jeffrey's step down in 2014. The brand has also come under scrutiny in the last decade. In a Netflix documentary, White Hot: The Rise and Fall Abercrombie & Fitch, former models spoke out.

Abercrombie said it wasn't that we were being racially discriminated against, it was that we weren't good-looking enough.

In today's criminal indictment, Abercrombie & Fitch is not accused of wrongdoing. The prosecutors allege Jeffries used the potential of an opportunity with Abercrombie to lure young men. When ABC News reached out to the company, it declined to comment. In 2023, the BBC airded a documentary featuring several former models accusing Jeffries of sexually exploiting them.

What happened to me changed my life, and not for the better.

Barrett Paul was one of those who spoke out to the BBC.

As a young person, you tell yourself this is just part of what the industry is.

Paul was a model when he says he crossed paths with Jeffrey Smith and Jacobson in 2011.

Being able to get into a meeting with the CEO So meant you had a very good chance of becoming one of the models. And this was the draw. This is why I was an easy person to pray upon.

He claims he was invited to attend an event at Jeffrey's estate in the Hamptons Paul thought it was a chance to audition to be an Abercrombie model.

I was told that there could be some things that were not your normal interview. However, this is your You're not going to get another one like this. And I was given Abercrombie and Fitch underwear to put on. I walked into a scene that would make most people extremely uncomfortable, extremely nervous, scared. There is not just them, but other men in there doing stuff that I was not comfortable with. And then there's other men in there completely dressed in Abercrombie and Fitch clothes.

What happened still haunt him.

I was stripped of what felt like my humanity. I felt like a piece of meat.

For years, he stayed silent. He says he worried speaking out would ruin his career. Now, he's part of a class action lawsuit filed last year representing at least dozens who claim Abercrombie's crucial support allowed Jeffrey to successfully rape, sexually assault, and coercively sex traffic like Barrett Paul and numerous others. Jeffrey's and Abercrombie and Fitch have both denied the claims and filed motions to dismiss the civil lawsuit and the claims made by Paul.

I think that there is no doubt that the criminal case never would have been opened but for our civil lawsuit.

Brad Edwards is one of the lawyers on that civil case.

This is the first sex trafficking operation that we have worked where the victims were all males and the perpetrator was a male. I think that That has led to some of the victims being more reluctant than others to come forward. But I would say every single month, we have heard from more and more victims.

Jeffrey St. Jacobson will be arrained Friday on the criminal charges.

If found guilty, they can face 15 years to life for the sex trafficking charge and up to 20 years for each one of those counts of interstate prostitution.

The FBI is urging others who believe they are victims to come forward. We are waiting to hear from you, and we're here to help you. Paul hopes sharing his story can give others courage.

We are absolutely getting closer and closer to a tipping point where I know more men are going to feel comfortable saying me too, too. I don't want anyone else to have to go through what I went through.