American Apparel CEO Forced Employee to Give Him a Professional on Her 18th Birthday

Irene Morales, a former American Apparel employee -- who we assume is beautiful since founder and CEO Dov Charney has personally fired anyone he deems unattractive -- is suing her ex-boss because he forced her to give him a professional. This comes after he reportedly forced her to send him nude pictures and texts, before finally demanding that she visit him at his NYC apartment on her birthday.

The alleged victim is seeking $260 million in damages from her former boss, Dov Charney, 42, according to the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court. She alleges that in April 2009, Charney invited her to his Manhattan apartment, opened the door wearing nothing but underpants and "forced her to go down on her knees just inside the front door and perform fellatio upon him." He then threw her on the bed and made her repeat the same sex act, "nearly suffocating her in the process," the suit says. "She was then, to all intents and purposes, held prisoner in the apartment for several hours and forced to perform additional sexual acts," the suit says. It's unclear whether the plaintiff - whose name is being withheld by the Daily News - ever reported the incident to police. Her lawyer and Charney's representatives did not immediately comment. Charney was sued for sexual harassment in the past but none of those cases was proven in court. Charney did admit to maintaining a sexually-charged atmosphere in his company's offices. The latest suit is by far the most damming. It claims his sexual advances started in the summer of 2007, when the plaintiff was 17 and first started working for him. It allegedly became physical once she turned 18. She was "diagnosed as suffering from serious psychiatric injuries from which she will never fully recover," the suit says.
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According to additional reports, the alleged sodomy occurred on Irene's 18th birthday because, according to the suit, Dov told her if she wanted to be promoted and keep her job, she would have to have sex with him when she was of legal age.


The company released this statement:

"We have been informed today that Irene Morales, a former employee of American Apparel who left the company without complaint and resigned with a letter of gratitude regarding her positive experience at the company, has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit in New York against the company. Upon her resignation, Ms. Morales acknowledged in writing that she had no pending claims against the company and signed a severance agreement which included a full release of claims and an agreement to submit any future claims to confidential binding arbitration. All American Apparel's employees are subject to the same confidential arbitration agreement signed by Ms. Morales in order to protect the privacy interests of employees and former employees, and to prevent predatory plaintiffs and their attorneys from attempting to use the media to extort the company. Such an arbitration process was initiated by the company against Ms. Morales several weeks ago. The company intends to file a formal complaint with the NY state bar seeking disciplinary action against Ms. Morales' lawyers who we believe are engaged in an illegal conspiracy to extort money from American Apparel. We are very confident that Ms. Morales' claims will be promptly referred by the court to confidential binding arbitration where her claims and the company's counter-claims will be resolved, we believe fully in favor of the company."

This is Irene.




Update: Dov and his lawyers got their way. A Brooklyn judge has put a halt to Irene's lawsuit against and has ordered a hearing on whether or not the suit should move forward because Irene previously agreed that all disputes would go to arbitration.