Photographer Terry Richardson is the focus of a new investigation by the NYPD’s Special Victims Squad, the Daily News has learned.
Multiple women confirmed Tuesday that investigators from the elite unit have reached out in recent weeks, asking for sit-down meetings regarding the lurid lensman.
The development follows a Dec. 15 cover story in The News detailing new allegations of sexual assault against the 52-year-old former fashion industry star who’s shot everyone from Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus to President Obama.
Ex-model Caron Bernstein stepped forward in the piece with claims Richardson invited her to collaborate on an edgy, topless photo shoot at his Manhattan studio in 2003 and ambushed her with a sex assault.
Bernstein, 47, said Richardson exposed himself without warning, forced her to perform oral sex on him.
She told The News a special victims detective called her last month and set up a meeting for this week.
Former model Lindsay Jones confirmed she also received a similar call from a sex crimes detective. She plans to sit to be interviewed when she returns from an overseas trip, she said.
Jones went public with a harrowing claim against Richardson in a Dec. 14 HuffPost piece.
She retold the story to The News, claiming Richardson lured her to his studio in 2007 or 2008 with the promise of discussing a possible shoot over coffee.
She said seconds after he closed the door behind her, he caught her off-guard with a demand she get on her knees. She said he exposed himself and started jabbing his penis in her face. She complied with his demands out of fear, she said.
“I was afraid and confused and hoping to get it over with. I left there feeling like human garbage,” she told The News. “He thought I was disposable.”
A representative with Model Alliance further confirmed Tuesday that the advocacy group was contacted by police and is participating in an investigation.
A detective involved in the Richardson probe did not respond to a request for comment. An NYPD spokesman did not return a request for comment.
Richardson has consistently argued all his sexual interactions with models were consensual.
He vehemently denied assaulting Bernstein in a statement issued by his lawyer.
His attorney, Brad D. Rose, previously showed The News a series of photographs shot by Richardson that depicted semen on Bernstein’s breasts. The images did not show her face.
Advertisements Share this:
