ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Wisconsin man was released on $500,000 bail after being charged as a big-bucks sex-trafficker for a now-retired executive with the Abercrombie & Fitch clothier chain. James Jacobson, 71, of Rice Lake, walked out of federal court in St. Paul after posting the bail It was believed that Jacobson would return 100 miles away to his retirement home outside Rice Lake in Wisconsin. There was a simultaneous arraignment in West Palm Beach, Florida, of the former Abercrombie executive Michael Jefferies. He was released on $100 million bail. Jefferies’ partner Matthew Smith also was arraigned in West Palm Beach on the same charges but was detained – no bail allowed — because the judge regarded him as a flight risk because he carries both U.S. and British passports. All three defendants — Jacobson in Wisconsin and Jefferies and Smith in Florida — will be arraigned a second time in the Eastern District of New York at a later date, said Breon Peace the main New York-based federal prosecutor in tee case.
Jacobson. At St. Paul courthouse for arraignment.
Defendant ages
Jefferies: When alleged by indictment to have begun procuring ung nen for “sex events,” 64: now 80.
Smith: When began, 45; now 61.
Jacobson: When began, 55; now 71.
Abercombie profile
Abercrombie & Fitch was founded in NewYork as a hunting and outdoors goods store in 1892. A century later Michael Jefferies transformed the company into a national chain known for sexy marketing that featured shirtless, muscular male models in advertising and on oversize billboard-like photos crowning store walls. The chain grew to 850 locations with premium-priced products. These shops were mostly in shopping malls. Jefferies talked openly about his secret — an overt sexual appeal to teenagers. The target was kids desperate to overcome the psychological insecurities of puberty. With the Bush economic downtown of 2008, many teens to shifted to less expensive shops. Abecrombie sales slumped. Under pressure from once-enthusiasticWall Street investors Jefferies left the company A few months after his departure, the company announced it would de-sexualize its marketing. This included an end to using the term “models” for its sales clerks. The company told managers it wouldn’t tolerate hiring discrimination “based on body type or physical attractiveness.” It worked. Abercrombie rebounded. Revenues have passed $3.7 billion a year. There are 7,000 employees.
New York billboard. An unmistakable sensual allure in marketing aimed at teen-agers during Jefferies reign at Abercrombie.