Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries emerged on Long Island Friday — sporting an ankle bracelet tucked into his sock — to plead not guilty to bombshell sex-trafficking charges allegedly involving young male models.
Jeffries, 80, who’s free on $10 million bond, answered to 16 counts — one count of sex trafficking and 15 counts of interstate prostitution — in Central Islip federal court with his wife and son in the gallery.
Magistrate Judge Steven Tiscione issued a stern warning about the disgraced fashion boss’ bail conditions — which include home confinement.
“Mr. Jeffries, you are putting your family at a financial risk if you do not return to court,” he said.
Jeffries’ $10 million bond is secured by his wife and son — and partly by the couple’s home on Fisher Island in New York.
They also got a talking to from Tiscione, who warned them, “If the defendant does not show up to the court, your house will go into foreclosure” and “You will owe the government 10 million dollars.”
Jeffries, who left the clothing company in 2014 after 22 years, is charged alongside his romantic partner Matthew Smith, 61, and alleged middleman, James Jacobson, 71, of luring at least 15 young male aspiring models to sex parties around the world where Jeffries and Smith sexually abused them, prosecutors allege.
Jacobson, who also pleaded not guilty Friday and must remain on home confinement, is accused of recruiting the young men with the promise to help boost their modeling careers or even get them jobs as A&F models, the feds claim.
The middleman would have the targets first perform sex acts on him to test them out for Jeffries and Smith’s sick plans and then Smith would have to approve the candidates that Jacobson referred to him, court papers allege.
The victims — who were as young as 19 — were often subjected to painful penis injections to induce erections and they endured the insertion of large objects in their anuses and high-pressured enemas delivered using a hose, prosecutors allege.
The men were given drugs and lubricant and had their genitals shaved by Jeffries and others to prep them for the so-called “sex events” that took place at Jeffries’ homes in Manhattan and in the Hamptons and in hotels around the world, the feds claim.
Jeffries and Smith poured millions of dollars into running the sex-trafficking and prostitution operation that took place from at least 2008 through 2015, court papers allege.
The trio of defendants first appeared in court earlier this week where Jeffries was released by a Florida judge on $10 million bond with electronic monitoring through a GPS ankle monitor and Jacobson was freed on $500,000 bond by a judge in St. Paul, Minn.
An arraignment for Smith — a UK native — hasn’t been scheduled yet as he was held without bail in Florida federal court Tuesday on account of the fact he’s an alleged flight risk and must still be transported to New York to appear in the case.