Months after Conde Nast severed ties with longtime co-collaborator, photographer Terry Richardson, comes news that the New York City Police Department’s Special Victims Division is investigating him for sexual assault according to multiple publications.
When Conde Nast announced it was ending ties with the photographer, it sent shock waves through the industry and seemed to confirm many longtime rumors that have swirled around Terry Richardson who has categorically denied any wrongdoing in multiple statements to the press.
Richardson is a fashion industry mainstay and has commanded large sums of money to shoot for various design houses and industry magazines.
A multimillionaire many times over for his work, Richardson is known for his raw, somewhat confrontational style of photography. Some praise his work while others deride it as unnecessary objectification.
Multiple women confirmed to the New York Daily News that members of the NYPD’s elite Special Victims Division reached out to them concerning allegations of sexual misconduct by Terry Richardson.
One of Richardson’s accusers contacted by the NYPD SVU, model Caron Bernstein, claims Richardson lured her to his apartment for an “edgy” topless photo shoot during which he assaulted her.
Another model who went public with her story, Lindsey Jones, also confirmed she had met with officers of the NYPD SVU.
She told the New York Daily News: “I was afraid and confused and hoping to get it over with. I left there feeling like human garbage…He thought I was disposable.”
In an open letter published on the web in early December 2017 Richardson wrote: “I collaborated with consenting adult women who were fully aware of the nature of the work, and as is typical with any project, everyone signed releases. I have never used an offer of work or a threat of rebuke to coerce someone into something that they did not want to do.”
