Celebrity fashion designer ‘raped and molested’ young girls after promising them fame and fortune
A celebrity fashion designer has been convicted of raping and molesting young girls after luring them to Los Angeles with the promise of hiring them as models.
Indian-born Anand Jon, who dressed Hollywood socialite Paris Hilton and singer Janet Jackson before his arrest, was found guilty on 20 charges.
They included lewd acts on a child and involved sexual assaults between 2001 and 2007 on nine aspiring models aged between 14 and 21.
The disgraced 34-year-old Beverly Hills designer found fame in the US after he worked on the reality show ‘America’s Next Top Model’ starring Tyra Banks.
He faces life behind bars when he is sentenced on January 13.
The jury at Los Angeles Superior Court announced their verdict last night after nearly two weeks of deliberations. They aquitted him on four additional charges.
The two-month trial offered a sordid look behind the scenes of the American fashion industry.
Jon used his rising celebrity stature to persuade young girls dreaming of fame and fortune in Hollywood to visit his flat in Beverly Hills where he acted out his sadistic fantasies.
In addition to the victims in California, prosecutors called another seven women to testify about alleged assaults in New York and Texas, where he also faces prosecution.
Jon, whose full name is Anand Jon Alexander, denied the charges and accused his victims of making up the attacks.
Defence lawyers tried to portray the young girls as liars plotting together to get revenge on the up-and-coming designer by wrecking his career.
He was arrested in March last year after a woman told Beverly Hills police he had raped her the previous day.
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