More men have come forward with accounts of being recruited and exploited for sex at events hosted by the fashion guru who turned Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) into a global clothing powerhouse and his partner.
Eight men have joined a dozen others to say they were approached and coerced into attending sex parties curated for the entertainment of Mike Jeffries, the former CEO of the clothing brand, and his life partner Matthew Smith.
The pair, aged 80 and 61 respectively, have previously denied all claims of wrongdoing while the clothing brand itself has sought to distance itself from the allegations, denying knowledge of their existence. It is investigating.
However, a new podcast features the accounts of several men who say they were molested at sex events held in grand hotel rooms and even injected with what they were told was ‘liquid Viagra’ – to which one person suffered a severe reaction.
In addition, one alleged abuse survivor claimed one of Jeffries’ assistants had been working for A&F as he supervised the sex events – reportedly using a company email address.
The men spoke to the BBC’s World of Secrets podcast, which first detailed bombshell allegations against A&F, Jeffries and Smith last September.
Two new episodes were released last night after the broadcaster said it was approached by multiple other men in the wake of a Panorama documentary it released alongside the podcast.
The FBI is investigating the allegations and has interviewed some of those involved, including one man who attended the sex parties but claimed they were held with the ‘full consent’ of all those involved.
But the eight men who spoke to the BBC say they were exploited by Jeffries and Smith, who have denied the allegations.
One man, given the name Luke to protect his identity, said he was recruited from a modelling website and guided into a hotel suite in Spain that had been dressed up to resemble an A&F store in a twisted roleplay scenario.
He claimed he was encouraged to act as one of the store’s infamous shirtless greeters to impress ‘two very important guests’ – Jeffries and Smith – who then forcibly kissed him and tried to perform oral sex on him.
Luke recalled: ‘I was trying to avoid the whole situation as much as I could, but Michael was very aggressive. I tried to say no repeatedly. I constantly was saying no.’
However, he felt unable to leave as assistants were ‘watching (the) exits’. An assistant from Mr Jeffries’ private office had interviewed him on Skype for what he believed was going to be a photoshoot.
His travel and accomodation was paid for, and he was given €3,500 in cash and made to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
‘There’s an immense amount of shame associated with this idea that you’re not a masculine man if you’ve been molested or taken advantage of by another man,’ Luke, who identifies as straight, told the podcast.
Another attendee named Chris said he was injected in the penis with what we was told was ‘liquid Viagra’ by one of Jeffries’ assistants, who was not medically trained.
He suffered a reaction, feeling ‘hot, dizzy’ and in shock after he was allegedly injected in a Manhattan townhouse that once belonged to the fashion boss.
However, he claimed nobody called an ambulance. Instead, Jeffries and Smith are alleged to have tried to have sex with him.
