 "Rich, powerful, sex criminals: The common link between Jeffries, Sean Diddy, Weinstein")
The rich, powerful, and influential lives seem rosy and promising to an outsider. But are the mansions, luxury cars, and endless cash flow only a facade to bury a dark secret? The cases of rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Harvey Weinstein and more recently former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries highlight how people with immense wealth have built parallel lives that are marred with exploitation, manipulation and sex slavery.
Jeffries and his partner Matthew Smith have been arrested for their alleged involvement in running a prostitution ring and international sex trafficking. Authorities in New York charged the couple and their middleman James Jacobson on Tuesday based on a tip-off published in the media.
Their case is eerily similar to those of Weinstein and Sean ‘Diddy’, which put a spotlight on the power of wealth and influence and how many people have suffered for their wrongdoings.
‘Trafficked men for his own pleasure’
The FBI has been tailing Jeffries and Smith since last year after a bombshell report by BBC revealed how the couple had been bringing men over from all around the world to their New York home only to sexually abuse them.
On Tuesday, Breon Peace, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, accused Jeffries of exploiting his wealth, influence, and position as CEO of A&F to “traffic men for his own sexual gratification” and that of his partner, Smith.
Peace, whose office won a conviction and 30-year prison term for the singer R Kelly for sex trafficking, said powerful people have for too long sexually abused young people who yearned for careers in fashion and entertainment.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“To anyone who thinks they can exploit and coerce others by using the so-called casting couch system, this case should serve as a warning: Prepare to trade that couch for a bed in federal prison,” Peace said at a press conference.
The prosecutor alleged that the couple employed Jacobson as their “recruiter” whose task was to identify the victims and conduct “tryouts”. Following Jeffries’ approval, the men were brought to his home where they were “pressured to consume alcohol, Viagra, and muscle relaxants,” Peace claimed.
Jeffries and Smith also instructed these men to either self-administer or personally “inject men with an erection-inducing substance” when they were reluctant to participate.
Men were required to sign non-disclosure agreements and pay damages if they told anyone including family and friends what went on.
The case of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
Sean ‘Diddy’, who has not only ruled the world of rap but has built his own music empire, saw his career taking the wrong turn for the worst after scores of women came forward and accused him of sexual abuse.
The accusations have emerged through a combination of civil lawsuits and criminal investigations. Over 120 individuals, some of whom were reportedly minors at the time of the incidents, have come forward with claims of being sexually abused or exploited. These allegations stretch over three decades and involve abuse occurring at parties, recording studios, and auditions tied to Combs’ music empire, Bad Boy Records.
Both minors and adults have alleged that Sean ‘Diddy’ drugged them with substances like ketamine at notorious parties and coerced them in the name of record deals.
High-profile accusers include R&B singer Cassie (Casandra Ventura), who filed a lawsuit in 2023 alleging years of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse during her personal and professional relationship with Combs.
The case of Weinstein and his sexual exploits
Harvey Weinstein is due back in court in New York on Wednesday for a hearing ahead of his retrial on sex crimes charges stemming from his landmark #MeToo case.
The former movie mogul was already facing retrial on two sex crime charges after the state’s highest court overturned his 2020 conviction earlier this year. Then in September, he was hit with a new charge accusing him of another assault. He has pleaded not guilty.
Weinstein was convicted on charges — since overturned — that he forcibly performed oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006, and rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actor in 2013. In the new charge, prosecutors say he forced oral sex on a different woman in a Manhattan hotel in the spring of 2006.
With inputs from agencies
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