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Indian fashion designer indicted on 59 counts

LOS ANGELES: Celebrity fashion designer from India, Anand Jon Alexander, was indicted on Thursday on 59 counts of sexual assault in a move prosecutors said would keep alleged victims from having to testify at a preliminary hearing.

Prosecutors previously charged Alexander with more than 40 felony and misdemeanour counts involving 18 victims that included rape, sexual battery and committing a lewd act on a child. He pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges.

The indictment unsealed on Thursday added two victims and said the crimes targeted women and girls from 15 to 27 between November 2002 and March 2007.

Alexander, 33, has made the rounds of parties and fashion events, working with celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Michelle Rodriguez and Mary J. Blige. He was a profiled designer on the TV show ‘America’s Next Top Model’ in 2003 and was among 20 people listed by Newsweek as up-and-coming players in various fields. Alexander is suspected of meeting women on the Internet then assaulting them when they visited with him about modelling opportunities.

His defence has claimed some of the women made the allegations to seek fame. Alexander’s lawyer said in some of the cases the victims either kept in contact or met with the designer only after the alleged crimes occurred.

Alexander was arrested in March at his Beverly Hills apartment. He was in court on Thursday when the judge ordered him held without bail pending an October 25 hearing. Prosecutors asked for bail to be set at $5.1 million.

A grand jury in Houston charged Alexander on July 30 with felony sexual assault of a child between ages 14 and 16, the assistant district attorney said. Houston police have an open warrant for his arrest. Criminal investigations are under way in New York and Massachusetts.

“One of the reasons in seeking the indictment is that it speeds up the process and avoids a preliminary hearing,” said a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. “The nature of the charges allows victims not to testify twice.”

Three arrest warrants also have been issued for Alexander in Dallas County, where authorities said they plan to seek indictments for sexual assault and extradite Alexander after his California case concludes. Alexander came to the U.S. from India as a teen with his sister and mother. He graduated from the Parsons School of Design in New York in 1998 and began designing jewellery and clothing.

If convicted of all counts, he faces up to a life term in prison. — AP

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