Ex-Abercrombie CEO arrested on sex trafficking charges
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 October 2024
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch and his partner have been arrested and charged with running a prostitution and international sex trafficking business. Also on the programme, after Moldova voted for pro-EU constitutional changes by only 0.16 of a percentage point, there are now accusations that there was meddling and interference in the referendum; and, Barack Obama is back on the campaign trail.
(Photo: Press conference with federal authorities on former Abercrombie & Fitch chief Mike Jeffries arrested on federal sex trafficking charges, New York, USA - 10 Oct 2024. SARAH YENESEL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstocki)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to News Hour from the BBC World Service I'm Sean Lay |
| 0:10.4 | Mike Jeffries the former boss of the high-end fashion firm Abercrombie and Fitch, along with his partner Matthew Smith and a third man James Jacobson, were arrested in New York on Tuesday in charges of sexual assault and people trafficking. The offenses |
| 0:25.3 | involve multiple alleged male victims. The indictment was run out by Brion Peace, the United States |
| 0:30.8 | attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and I should warn you that you may find this description disturbing. |
| 0:37.0 | The defendants caused the men to believe that not complying with requests for certain acts, sex acts during the events could harm their careers. |
| 0:47.0 | The defendants pressured the men to consume alcohol, bira, and muscle relaxants known as poppers during the sex events. |
| 0:57.0 | And they required the presence of staff during the sexual activity |
| 1:02.0 | and ensured that the men did not leave the sex events until |
| 1:06.7 | Jeff Rees and Smith decided that the sessions were over. |
| 1:11.5 | Brie on Peace, while the BBC's Madeline Holpert was at that news conference and afterwards she told me more about the |
| 1:16.7 | charges. |
| 1:17.7 | Yeah, so we heard from three prosecutors this afternoon and they told us about the 16 counts these three men are facing for |
| 1:24.4 | interstate prostitution and sex trafficking. Prosecutors alleged that |
| 1:28.0 | Jeffries used his wealth as a powerful CEO of the clothing company to create an |
| 1:32.2 | international sex trafficking and prostitution enterprise. of the |
| 1:33.3 | clothing company to create an international sex trafficking and prostitution enterprise. |
| 1:35.1 | And they say he hired a middle man, Jacobson, to recruit dozens of vulnerable young men |
| 1:40.6 | hoping for a career in fashion or modeling to travel the US and the world to engage |
| 1:46.1 | in SexS with Jeffries and his partner. |
| 1:50.1 | They said what their investigation uncovered was beyond disturbing and that Jeffries used prolific amounts of money to arrange these sexual encounters that prosecutors say were also supervised by staff that Jeffries had hired, which made the men feel like they couldn't leave the room during these encounters. |
| 2:06.8 | Investigators also said they have a ton of evidence to prove their case, travel records, |
| 2:10.8 | financial records, and other documents. |
... |
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