Oct 4, 2007 12:49 pm US/Pacific
Designer Indicted On 59 Counts Of Sexual Assault
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
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Anand Jon Alexander has been indicted on 59 counts of sexual assault.
Mark Mainz/Getty Images
Fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander is accused of sexually assaulting 20 teenage girls and young women he allegedly lured to Los Angeles to model for him, according to a grand jury indictment unsealed
Alexander, 33, is charged with 54 felony and five misdemeanor counts, including forcible rape, sexual battery by restraint and lewd acts upon a child.
The charges also include sexual penetration by a foreign object, using a minor for sex acts, forcible and attempted forcible oral copulation, assault with intent to commit a felony, possession or control of child pornography and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
According to the grand jury indictment, which had been sealed after it was handed up Sept. 27 following a nine-day hearing with 23 witnesses, the alleged crimes occurred between November 2002 and this March.
The indictment includes all 18 alleged victims from a 46-count criminal complaint that had been filed earlier this year against Alexander, along with two additional alleged victims.
Seven are from California, with the remainder from eight states and two countries, according to the District Attorney's Office.
He is accused of setting up a fledgling design business and using it to lure aspiring models to Los Angeles to sexually assault them.
"We think that there was collusion," one of his defense attorneys, Anthony Brooklier, said of the alleged victims. "We think this is made up whole-cloth, the entire case."
Alexander is being held without bail and will be arraigned Oct. 25 at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse.
Brooklier said he plans to ask for bail for his client at the next court hearing.
"He wants out ... We think he should be out," Brooklier said.
Another of Alexander's attorneys, Donald B. Marks, said his client is "doing the best he can" behind bars.
"We're confident we can deal with it," he said of the charges in the indictment.
Among those who attended today's court proceedings was one of Donald Trump's ex-wives, Marla Maples. A spokesman for Alexander's family said she was there in support of Alexander and his relatives.
Also in court was Sean Qurshey, a Granada Hills man who wore a T-shirt that read "We Support Anand Jon" on the front and "Who Framed Anand Jon?" on the back.
He said he did not know anything about Alexander until he read a story about the allegations, and believed that the designer is a "gentleman (who has) been very much victimized by some girls."
Beverly Hills police launched an investigation in March after a woman reported what while at his Beverly Hills apartment, Alexander had sexually assaulted her.
Alexander is also under investigation in Dallas, Houston, New York and Massachusetts, and could face life in prison if convicted of the charges in the indictment.
According to the India-born, New York-based designer's Web site, he has won numerous fashion awards, including a 2002 People's Choice for "Best New Designer" and a 2002- 03 Fashion Week of the Americas "International New Star." He was a profiled designer on the TV show, "America's Next Top Model," in 2003.
Newsweek once described him as a "party boy in Miami in the 1990s ... who as a Parsons-trained designer launched his first line at New York Fashion Week in 1999 and has gone on to dress the likes of Paris Hilton."
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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