The partner of the former Abercrombie executive
The partner of the former Abercrombie executive enters a not guilty plea to accusations of sex trafficking.
The partner of the Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries’ British girlfriend entered a not guilty plea to charges of interstate prostitution and sex trafficking.
As attorneys filed Matthew Smith’s plea, he sat silently in federal court on Long Island, New York. Wearing a tan oversized shirt and black-rimmed spectacles.
A $10 million (£7.7 million) bond was required before the 61-year-old was released from house detention.
In October, Mr. Smith was arrested and accused with operating an international sex trafficking and prostitution company. Together with Mr. Jeffries, 80, and their alleged middleman James Jacobson, 71. Additionally, Mr. Jacobson and Mr. Jeffries entered not guilty pleas.
Between 2008 and 2015. The three are charged by federal prosecutors of forcing at least 15 young men to participate in violent and exploitative. Sex activities through compulsion. Fraud, and force.
The operation “encompassed dozens and dozens of guys. According to the prosecution, with the youngest victim being 19 at the time of the crime. Additionally, they stated that some of them had previously modeled for or worked at Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) stores.
Authorities first considered Mr. Smith, a UK citizen, to be a flight risk and placed him under arrest until trial.
New York Judge Lee Dunst informed Mr. Smith at a half-hour hearing on Tuesday that he would be placed under house arrest at his Palm Beach. Florida, residence and that he would need to turn in his passport. He was only permitted to leave his home to go to Mr. Jeffries’s medical appointments.
Mr. Smith seemed at ease as he presented a $10 million (£7.7 million) bond. Backed by a property on Fire Island and two residences in Florida.
Six individuals consented to serve as sureties for the bond: former A&F executive vice-president Diane Chang and her husband, Mike Jeffries and his wife Susan Jeffries, and their son and daughter-in-law Andrew and Annabel Jeffries.
A request for comment has been made to Abercrombie & Fitch.
Mr. Smith was instructed not to speak to Mr. Jacobson, who is also charged, or to make any contact with witnesses or victims. He can only discuss the case with Mr. Jeffries via legal counsel.
Brian Bieber, Mr. Jeffries’ attorney, gave Mr. Smith a shopping bag emblazoned with oblique torso shapes as he exited the courtroom.
Wearing white pants and an ankle monitor, Mr. Smith left the courthouse and entered a black SUV without answering any questions from reporters.
After claims of sexual abuse by Mike Jeffries during his tenure as CEO were made public by a BBC podcast and documentary, the FBI launched an inquiry.
A sophisticated operation employing a middleman tasked with recruiting men for sex events they staged in key cities across the world, including London, Paris, and Marrakech, was discovered by the BBC to have involved Mr. Jeffries and Mr. Smith.
After twenty years in leadership, Mr. Jeffries resigned as A&F’s CEO and chairman in 2014, taking with him a $25 million retirement payout.
A&F stopped his $1 million yearly retirement benefits and launched an independent investigation in response to the BBC’s coverage.
A&F, Matthew Smith, and Mr. Jeffries are fighting a civil action alleging the corporation sponsored a sex trafficking organization that they ran in addition to the criminal prosecution.
After the store declined to fund the expense of his criminal defense. Mr. Jeffries filed a lawsuit against it on Monday. Claiming the brand had promised to defend him against any claims resulting from his employment with the firm.
A US judge said earlier this year that A&F must pay his legal fees in the civil action because the accusations were related to his corporate position.
Matthew Smith is who?
According to court filings and former employees. The seldom photographed Matthew Smith first met Mike Jeffries in 1989, and the two had been together since the 1990s.
Before relocating to the US to earn an MBA at Wharton Business School in Pennsylvania. He attended Newcastle University and was raised in Hampshire, England.
He soon established two hair salons in the Midwest with the same name, The Matthew Smith Clinic. According to former salon employees who spoke to the BBC, their jobs included wearing A&F uniforms and taking IQ tests.
Later, he oversaw Mike Jeffries’ numerous properties and enormous multimillion-dollar fortune as the head of his private family office. Former employees characterized him as reticent and claimed that he controlled every aspect of Mr. Jeffries’ life.
Even though he was not an accountable employee, Abercrombie & Fitch executives were worried about his unofficial influence within the organization during this time.
According to a lawsuit eventually filed by shareholders, Mr. Smith had access to private financial and proprietary documents. Participated in a few board meetings, frequently accompanied Mr. Jeffries on the company aircraft. And even chose real estate for international shop locations.
