Fashion Designer Anand Jon Alexander Indicted on Additional Sex Charges in New York

NEW YORK – A fashion designer already in police custody in Los Angeles on sex charges has been indicted in New York on charges of rape and sexual assault of nine women, prosecutors said Tuesday.

A 40-count indictment charges Anand Jon Alexander, a graduate of New York's Parsons School of Design who has worked for many celebrities, with rape, aggravated sex abuse and related crimes that stem from assaults from 2002 through 2006, the Manhattan district attorney's office said.

Many of Alexander's victims came from other cities looking for modeling or other job opportunities, office spokeswoman Barbara Thompson said.

Prosecutors in New York sent an arrest warrant to Los Angeles, asking authorities there to hold Alexander for extradition if he posts the $2.1 million bail a judge set for him this month, Thompson said. Alexander was due back in court there on Dec. 6.

One of Alexander's attorneys, Donald Marks, said he hadn't seen the New York indictment and couldn't comment. Marks' law firm partner, Anthony Brooklier, had said their client denied the Los Angeles charges and was "anxious to get out of jail."

The Indian-born designer has worked with Paris and Nicky Hilton, Ivanka Trump, Mary J. Blige, and other celebrities. In 2003, he was among 20 people profiled by Newsweek as up-and-coming players in various industries.

A Los Angeles County grand jury indicted Alexander on Sept. 27 on 54 felony and five misdemeanor counts, including forcible rape, sexual battery by restraint and lewd acts upon a child, prosecutors said. That indictment was unsealed Oct. 4.

Los Angeles prosecutors say Alexander, 33, attacked women from three countries and nine states between November 2002 and March 2007. They said he met women online and assaulted them when they visited him to seek modeling opportunities.

On his Web site, Alexander describes himself as "one of the young visionaries of our times" who is "both an individual personality and a brand name representing the synergy of the East and the West with a focused luxurious, youthful, sensual and cutting edge inspiration/image."