L'indépendance Luxembourgeoise - Partner of ex-Abercrombie & Fitch CEO pleads not guilty to sex trafficking

Briton Matthew Smith, the ex-CEO Mike Jeffries and their fixer James Jacobson allegedly used a "casting couch" ploy to groom aspiring male models to attend sex parties at which victims were plied with alcohol and drugs.

After his arrest in October in Florida with Jeffries, Smith was held in custody in New York. Smith appeared in court Tuesday in Central Islip on Long Island, to the east of New York City.

Smith pleaded not guilty and was released on a $10 million bond put up by Jeffries and his family, said a statement from the US attorney's office for the eastern district of New York.

An AFP photographer saw Smith leave the courthouse with what appeared to be a large electronic surveillance bracelet attached to his ankle.

Another hearing is scheduled for December 10 for Smith, Jeffries and Jacobson.

Jeffries, 80, was released on a $10 million bond in late October.

Jeffries, who served as CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch from 1992 to 2014, is accused of creating and maintaining a ring that recruited young men to have sex with him and Smith.

Prosecutors allege that between December 2008 and March 2015 Jeffries, Smith and Jacobson used a combination of "force, fraud and coercion" to traffic men in a sprawling prostitution enterprise.

Charging documents detail 15 anonymous victims, but prosecutors suggest the scale was probably much larger and have appealed for witnesses and victims to come forward.

Prosecutors say young men were taken to the New York home of Jeffries and Smith and to hotels in Britain, France, Italy, Morocco to have sex with them.

Jeffries faces the prospect of life in prison if convicted.

Jacobson also pleaded not guilty to the same charges as the other defendants and was released on half a million dollars bond in October.

O.Bernard--LiLuX