May 2009: American Apparel founder Dov Charney speaks at a rally in this file photo. (Reuters)
American Apparel founder Dov Charney allegedly turned a teenage employee into his sex slave, forcing her to send him nude pictures and texts before sodomizing her on her 18th birthday – just months after she returned to work following a nervous breakdown, an explosive new lawsuit charges.
Charney, who demanded the woman come to his Manhattan apartment the day she turned 18, answered the door in his underwear, dragged her inside and forced her to her knees so she could pleasure him, according to the lawsuit, which demands a staggering $250,000,000.
"Then he dragged her to the bedroom, threw her on the bed, got on top of her and forced her to perform another act of fellatio, nearly suffocating her in the process," the suit alleges.
She was then essentially "held prisoner" in the apartment for several hours during which time he forced her to perform additional sexual acts, according to the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
Charney allegedly began harassing the woman in August 2007 -- when she was just 17, a high-schooler working as a sales associate in an American Apparel store -- telling her that she would be fired if she did not detail her sexual history, engage in "increasingly explicit" sexual functions and send him sexually explicit pictures, according to the lawsuit.
And, he told her that in order to keep her job and be promoted, she would have to have sex with him as soon as she turned 18, the suit says.
The pressure of Charney’s demands caused her to become "increasingly nervous and depressed," forcing a hospital stay after an "emotional breakdown," the suit alleges.
After her release, she told Charney of her breakdown, which he then used to increase the pressure, the quarter-billion dollar lawsuit against Charney, American Apparel and members of the company’s board of directors alleges.
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