NEW YORK >> Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries, his romantic partner and a third man were arrested Tuesday on charges of luring men into drug-laced, outlandish and coercive sex parties held around the world by dangling the promise of modeling for the retailer’s once-defining beefcake ads.

For almost 20 years, Jeffries, partner Matthew Smith and their employee James Jacobson used Jeffries’ status, wealth and a web of household staffers to fulfill the couple’s sexual desires in what amounted to an international sex trafficking and prostitution business protected by secrecy, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court in New York.

“Sexually exploiting vulnerable human beings is a crime. And doing so by dangling dreams of a future in fashion or modeling ... is no different,” Brooklyn-based U.S. attorney Breon Peace said at a news conference, calling the case a warning “to anyone who thinks they can exploit and coerce others by using the so-called casting couch system.”

Jeffries’ attorney, Brian Bieber, and Smith’s lawyers, Joseph Nascimento and David Raben, said by email they would respond to the allegations in court.

Messages seeking comment were sent to Jacobson’s attorney. Jacobson has said previously that he didn’t engage in or know about any coercive, deceptive or forceful behavior.

The charges follow and sometimes echo sexual misconduct accusations made in lawsuits and the media by young people who said Jeffries promised modeling work and then pressed them into sex acts.

The case also is the latest sex crime prosecution of a prominent and wealthy man — from Sean “Diddy” Combs to Harvey Weinstein — accused of abusing his position as a star or possible star-maker, though the status of the cases and important aspects of the allegations vary. An early accuser of the late Jeffrey Epstein said he groped her during a 1997 meeting arranged as a modeling interview for the Victoria’s Secret catalog.

The three are charged with sex trafficking and interstate prostitution involving 15 unnamed accusers. James Dennehy, the assistant director of the FBI’s New York office, called the allegations “abhorrent.”