Mike Jeffries (businessman)
Michael Stanton Jeffries (born 1943 or 1944)[1] is an American businessman who was chairman and CEO of clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch from 1992 to 2014.
[2] In 2023, Jeffries was named in a civil class-action lawsuit which alleged that during his tenure as CEO of the company, he engaged in sex trafficking with over 100 young men, in exchange for promises of employment for coveted modeling spots, money, and drugs.
[3] In October 2024, in a separate case, Jeffries was arrested and indicted by federal prosecutors on criminal charges of sex trafficking and interstate prostitution.
He worked for 12 years at Abraham & Straus, before moving to Bullock's in Los Angeles, owned by Federated, as executive vice president for merchandising.
"[10] After the Alcott & Andrews bankruptcy in late 1989, Jeffries worked in merchandising at Paul Harris, a Midwest clothing chain that also went bankrupt, in early 1991.
[2] "Abercrombie led the pack of teen fashion brands in the 1990s largely as a result of the image created by Mr. Jeffries", according to the Wall Street Journal.
[16] Jeffries issued a public apology on May 15, 2013, stating that "We are completely opposed to any discrimination, bullying, derogatory characterizations or other anti-social behavior based on race, gender, body type or other individual characteristics".
[18][14] A&F attracted controversy from different interest groups, such as the feminist movement and the American Decency Association, and a number of lawsuits ensued.
[2] In 2003, Black, Latino and Asian American employees filed a class action lawsuit against the company claiming that minority applicants were discouraged from applying.
[24] The male models who work as stewards aboard the company jet were required to wear Abercrombie-branded polos, jeans, boxer briefs and flip-flops as part of their uniform, as well as a "spritz" of cologne.
This information then came to light as a result of a lawsuit that claimed Jeffries fired his own jet pilot in order to replace him with a much younger man.
[27] Jeffries's same-sex partner, Matthew Smith, reviewed internal documents and consulted on real estate matters at Abercrombie & Fitch despite having no qualifications to perform such tasks and despite holding no official position in the company.
[22] Smith's involvement was criticized as poor corporate governance[28] and was likely a factor in Jeffries's decision to leave the company, according to GQ.
[22] In 2023, the BBC completed a two-year investigation into several allegations that Jeffries and his cohorts exploited young adult men for sex.
[33] In October, a few weeks after the BBC report, Jeffries and others were sued in New York by a former model under a civil class action complaint of sex trafficking.
[3][34] The former model alleged that Jeffries and his partner Matthew Smith would search for attractive men on the Internet; provide them with money, drugs and promises of recruitment; and sexually exploit them.
