‘I was in bed putting on a fake smile..,’ men allege ex-Abercrombie boss Mike Jeffries over sexual harassment

Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries faces allegations of sexual exploitation from several men, with claims of abuse and drugging during modelling events.

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As per BBC report, some of these men claim they were abused, while others allege they were drugged. Luke describes his astonishment as he was led into Jeffries’ luxurious hotel suite in Spain in 2011.

“It looked like a movie set from an Abercrombie store,” he said, noting that he initially thought the event was meant to be a photoshoot.

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He said that the room was dimly lit with erotic photos of men’s abs adorning the dark walls. “In the middle, a group of assistants dressed in Abercrombie & Fitch uniforms - polos, blue jeans and flip-flops - were casually folding clothes on a table, pretending to be shop workers,” he added.

At age 20, Luke recounts being invited to appear in a company advertisement if he travelled from his home in Los Angeles to Madrid to meet the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F).

He said that the offer came through a modelling website from someone claiming to be a talent scout and executive assistant for Jeffries, who was then the head of the high-profile teen retailer, BBC reported.

In the suite, Luke describes how Jeffries' assistants started role-playing, urging him to act as a shirtless greeter.

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BBC reported, at that moment, he says Jeffries and his life partner, Matthew Smith, came out of a corner of the room. They immediately started touching him and Jeffries forcibly kissed him, he says. “I was trying to avoid the whole situation as much as I could, but Michael was very aggressive.” 

“I tried to say no repeatedly. And then I just got kind of convinced to do something. But I constantly was saying no, and I wanted to go.”

Luke (a pseudonym) is one of eight additional men who have come forward to the BBC over the past year since we first reported allegations of sexual exploitation at events organized by Jeffries and Smith.

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Following the BBC’s reporting, the FBI initiated an investigation, and now 20 men have shared that they either attended or helped organize these events. Besides Luke’s account, the new testimonies provide further insights into the extent of these events, which occurred from at least 2009 to 2015 during Jeffries' tenure as CEO.

BBC reported that Keith Milkie had attended multiple events hosted by Jeffries and Smith between 2012 and 2014. 

At the time, Milkie identified as straight and found some of these events “uncomfortable” and “painful.” On one occasion in Paris, he claims Jeffries directed him to engage in sex with another man, which he found neither wanted nor enjoyed.

On another occasion, while on the Queen Mary 2, a transatlantic ocean liner, Jeffries, who was intoxicated, verbally abused him after he refused a risky sexual act and attempted to insert a “bleeding finger” into him.

“I was in the bed putting on a fake smile, crying on the inside,” he says. “Here I am in the middle of the ocean having this person four times my age in that position of power and influence belittle me to death and literally call me worthless… simply because I said no to something,” BBC quoted him saying.