The head of the American Apparel clothing chain held an 18-year-old employee “prisoner” in his Manhattan home and attempted to sodomise her, according to a lawsuit that seeks $250 million (£155 million) in damages.
Dov Charney, the controversial Canadian entrepreneur whose retail empire includes 285 shops in 20 countries, is accused of pressuring a young saleswoman to “perform many more sex acts” over a period of eight months until, “on the verge of a breakdown”, she resigned from the company.
American Apparel, which is named in the lawsuit, has responded with a statement calling the claims “entirely baseless” and an attempt to exploit the “celebrity status” of its chief executive.
Mr Charney, who has faced accusations of harassment in the past, has a reputation as a flamboyant libertine, known for his enlightened policies towards his workforce — who enjoy relatively high salaries and healthcare benefits — and his reported tendency to hold meetings in his underwear.
The saleswoman, Irene Morales, who is now 20, says that Mr Charney began making sexual advances towards her when she was a 17-year-old high school student employed at the American Apparel store in the Chelsea district of Manhattan. He “began calling her at all hours . . . demanding details about her sexual history and interests”, according to court papers filed last Friday. They allege that Mr Charney, 42, demanded “sexually explicit photographs” of Ms Morales while “making it clear her employment would be forfeited if she did not comply.”
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Ms Morales says that in April, 2008, after she turned 18, she was invited to his house. He opened the door “wearing only underpants” and “forced her to go down on her knees just inside the front door and perform fellatio upon him”. The lawsuit alleges that she was then “to all intents and purposes, held prisoner in the apartment for several hours and forced to perform additional sexual acts upon Defendant Charney”.
It claims that Mr Charney continued to pressure his young employee into further sexual acts in the months that followed, with the threat that she would be dismissed if she refused to comply. It also alleges that he harassed her while she was at work, presenting her with “a large sex toy” in front of her colleagues.
Ms Morales said she had remained at the company because she could not find another job that paid as well. In her time there she had been promoted from saleswoman to store manager. She resigned from the company suffering from “psychiatric injuries from which she will never fully recover”, according to the lawsuit, which also accuses the company of gender discrimination.
In response, Peter Schey, a lawyer for the company, has said that Ms Morales “resigned with a letter of gratitude regarding her positive experience at the company”. He said the case “will be resolved, we believe, fully in favour of the company”. He added that Ms Morales had previously signed an agreement not to sue the company but to settle any claims through an arbitrator.
Mr Charney has been sued several times for sexual harassment, but none of the claims was proven in court. In 2005 he referred to one of the suits as an attempt “to exploit my transparent persona”. Supporters of Mr Charney have claimed that he leaves himself vulnerable to such lawsuits because of his unorthodox management style: his stores are decorated with suggestive photographs and close-ups of body parts, many apparently taken by Mr Charney, and he has admitted to engaging in consensual sex with women who work for him.
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During a magazine interview in 2004 the writer described Mr Charney engaging in oral sex with one of his female employees and masturbating several times.
Global brand
285 The number of American Apparel stores
20 Countries around the world in which the company has a presence
$1.07 The company’s current share price on the Amex exchange
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$134.5m Net sales in the third quarter of last year
10.5 Percentage fall in sales on last year
$8m Losses by the company in the third quarter of last year
Source: American Apparel