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Breaking News: Dov Charney is a Perv, Gets Sued
Photo by i_hate_my_screen_name via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
In a shocking turn of events, the otherwise wholesome owner of American Apparel, Dov Charney, is being sued by three former employees who are accusing him of defaming them online, reports Reuters. The three young women involved in the lawsuit, Irene Morales, Alyssa Ferguson and Tesa Lubans-Dehaven, each initially filed suit against Charney last month, alleging that he sexually assaulted them. Now, in a fresh lawsuit, they claim that he later set up blogs using their names, and posted naked images of them without their permission. The photos are accompanied by text like, "I was RAPED and IMPRISONED by Dov Charney! Give me $250 million NOW!"
In addition to being posted online, the pics were leaked to major media outlets, including the LA Times and the New York Post. Personal photos and emails from the young women also somehow fell into the hands of Gawker.
Charney has repeatedly claimed that the original sexual assault lawsuits are extortion, and the blogs appear to be an attempt by someone who had access to his email and cell phone to paint the girls as willing participants.
The emails and pics at first might seem damning (as they are clearly intended to be) -- one of the girls appears to have sent Charney dirty pictures of her own accord, and periodically asked him for money.
But a photo of a woman posing nude is not evidence of whether or not she was sexually assaulted -- a fact that was apparently lost on whoever set up the blogs. And publishing it without her permission says a lot more about the photographer than it does about the model.
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