Sexual Assault Charges Climb to 20 against designer who says LA Fashion Week plans triggered the charges
By Jeffrey Jolson
Anand Jon charges to 20 and counting
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 3/20/07 – Instead of making a triumphant appearance tonight at LA Fashion Week as scheduled, designer Anand Jon made an appearance Monday of a different sort – in court, where charges against him have been raised to 20 counts of sexual assault against seven women, including two underage girls. He remains in jail after a Los Angeles Superior court judge denied a request to lower his bail from $1.3 million.All the claimed rape and child molestation victims have ties to the L.A. fashion community, apparently encouraging Anand’s attorney to concoct a questionable “fashion industry defense.” Implying lax morals in the fashion business, his attorney claimed in the court hearing that many women in the fashion industry routinely granted sexual favors in exchange for advancement and that his planned LA Fashion Week showcase triggered the charges as the women has “Ulterior motives to have him in custody” during the event.
Those might not even be all the charges against him as more women come forth from his celebrity fashion dealings. “There an ongoing investigation in L.A., there is also one in New York,” L.A. District Attorney spokesperson Jane Robinson told Reuters. “This is a serious crime.”
When Hollywood Today originally contact Anand’s publicist in New York for official comment, we were told “Unfortunately, Anand Jon had to pull out of the upcoming LA Fashion week due to a family emergency.” And Newsweek chose him for their “Who to Watch in 2007” list. It’s increasingly apparent which family member had the emergency and why he needed watching.
Anand’s young attorney Ronald Richards is claiming its common in the fashion business for some females to give consensual sex and then act out when they do not get they what they expected. This defense has not worked in the movie industry where more than one person brought a complaint, even over the decades that various entertainment stars and executives have faced related charges.
Certainly a Los Angeles jury in this era would look askance at such a defense. Nonetheless, the first of Anand’s attorney’s defense statements read “As Anand has gained celebrity status in Hollywood and the fashion industry, it is not uncommon for the likes of the said victims to give consensual sexual favors in lieu of a vested interest, failing which they would not hesitate in maligning him for not having got what they expected out of him.”
Moreover, he brought up LA Fashion Week in court proceedings, stating “The upcoming LA Fashion Week was to have Anand launch his private label and this is perfect timing for some people with ulterior motives to have him in custody and frame him on such charges.”
Anand, born in India as Anand Jon Alexander appeared before Judge Elden Fox with his mother, sister Sanjana and brother in law sitting in the court room. Richards said the charges by first victim Natalie P, who claimed to have been raped by Anand on October 19, 2004, should be dropped for insufficient evidence. He also asked the judge to drop bail to $200,000, while the D.A. asked for bail to be raised to 2.35 million. All those motions were denied.
The seven victims are Autumn A , a fifteen year old child, Natalie P, Jessie B, Lindsay B, Avery G, Amanda C and Ashley R. and the DA said to expect more to come forward soon as the “various courts in the U.S. have complaints” against Arnand.
He was initially arrested at his Beverly Hills home earlier this month and charged with rape, sexual battery, lewd acts on a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The new counts add various sexual assaults, including lewd acts and rape, allegedly committed against three more women and a 17-year-old girl, Robison said.
According to Newsweek, the designer has dressed such celebrities as Paris Hilton and Janet Jackson, has plans to launch a new line of jeans, and was developing a reality TV show about his life. That one will have to be on Court TV for the foreseeable future with a possible change to “Prison Break’s” setting.