[1] In 2004, the agencies in New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, and Toronto separated and formed Elite Model Management North America.

[7] At the time, boutique agencies in Paris and Milan fell out of favor with models due to payment issues.

In 1994, Elite MM sought to break into the Asian market and awarded its Greater China rights to Michel Lu.

In 1996, Lu went on to expand Elite MM to Singapore that served as a regional office for South East Asia.

[13] Similar to their debut in Paris, Elite swept up top local and regional talents such as Charmaine Harn, Junita Simon, Sonia Couling, and Nadya Hatagalung.

[14] In 1999, a film was broadcast by the BBC showing the President of Elite MM, Gerald Marie, offering an undercover reporter sex for money.

[15] It was later proven that some images had been manipulated and the BBC admitted that its portrayal was unfair and had to make a substantial payout to the model agency.

[18] In 2002, Elite MM, along with several other New York City model agencies, was sued for hundreds of millions of dollars in a class action that accused them of fixing fees for the past 30 years.

Elite Models New York City was put up for auction and bought by Florida businessman Eddie Trump for $4.4 million, who asked Casablancas to come back and advise him.

The new board election follows the acquisition of a controlling stake in Elite World SA by Pacific Global Management, SARL ("PGM")[26] (now Freedom Holding, Inc.).

[35] Allegations of an "ingrained culture" of sexual assault and rape by Elite's male employees, especially its boss Gérald Marie, have dogged the agency for decades.

[citation needed] In 1999, a BBC investigation filmed Marie saying he hoped to seduce the contestants at the annual Elite Model Look show, as well as assaulting an undercover journalist and offering her money for sex.

But Elite countered with a libel action which was quietly settled with an apology from the BBC, who also agreed not to rebroadcast their documentary.

Supermodel and actress Carré Otis claimed in her 2011 memoir, Beauty, Disrupted, that she was raped "countless" times in the flat by Marie starting around 1986, when she was 17.

She said that in the early 1980s he routinely browsed photographic portfolios of young women, with his assistant "asking whom he would like to meet, and discussing meet-up fees of between $35,000 and $50,000.

"[39] In the wake of the MeToo movement, the allegations have increased; as of November 2020, at least 15 women have now spoken out against Marie and are cooperating in an investigation launched by French prosecutors.