Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries was arrested Tuesday along with his partner Matt Smith and a third man, Jim Jacobson, and was charged with 16 counts in the latest development in a sweeping FBI-led sex trafficking investigation Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have points.

According to ABC News, the three men are accused of running an international sex trafficking and prostitution operation that recruited young men for parties in the U.S. and abroad and used their collective vast wealth in an illegal enterprise “dedicated to fulfilling their sexual desires.” was”. They ensured that their international sex trafficking and prostitution business was kept secret,” the indictment states.

“We will respond to the allegations in detail after the indictment is unsealed and as necessary, but we plan to do so in the courthouse – not in the media,” said Brian Bieber, an attorney for Jeffries, and Joe Nascimento, an attorney for Smith. said ABC News in identical statements.

Jeffries, who led A&F from 1992 to 2014, was the subject of the 2022 Netflix documentary “White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch,” which detailed allegations made against the CEO over the years, including promoting a culture of racial discrimination and categorizing employees based on their appearance.

“All that mattered was that the employees they photographed and sent back to headquarters were hot,” journalist Moe Tkacik, who describes the entire process as “illegal,” says in the documentary.

As The New York Times noted in its coverage of Tuesday's arrest, the three defendants face a minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison. A conviction on the interstate prostitution charges could result in a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.