Designer found guilty of rape

Anand Jon, the designer who once seemed poised to achieve international catwalk fame, has been convicted in a Los Angeles court on charges involving seven girls and young women.

After deliberating for seven days, a jury found Jon – full name Anand Jon Alexander – guilty on one count of rape, multiple counts of committing a lewd act on a child, forcible oral sex and attempted sexual assault. He was acquitted on four other charges; the jury failed to reach a verdict on three other counts. He is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Jon, who has worked with the singer Mary J Blige and whose clients, according to his website, have included Paris Hilton, will be sentenced in January. However, because he has been convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault against several victims he faces a mandatory life sentence with the first possibility of parole arising only after 67 years served. He is therefore unlikely to see freedom again.

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He rose to fame earlier this decade. After graduating from the Parsons School of Design in New York in 1999, he launched his own fashion line, was featured in an episode of the reality show America's Next Top Model and was tipped as a person to watch by Newsweek magazine. However, he was arrested in Los Angeles in March 2007 after a woman claimed she had been raped by the designer.

During a two-month trial which was often characterised by tawdry testimony and offering glimpses of the fashion world that were hardly flattering, prosecutors said that Jon, 34, had lured young women and girls into a Beverly Hills apartment with the promise of securing them modelling careers. His intentions were very different, however.

Leaving the Los Angeles courthouse, deputy district attorney, Frances Young, said: "Similar to the way paedophiles surround themselves with children, he chose a career where be could be surrounded by young, very naive, very impressionable girls."

"This jury today sent a message that our communities will not tolerate serial rapists and child molesters like Anand Jon. They will be held accountable and the victims will get justice." Defence lawyers had argued in court that the testimony of the women could not be trusted and pointed out that some of them had stayed in contact with Jon even after the alleged violations took place.

They said that their client planned to appeal. "He's disappointed, obviously, but he hasn't given up hope," Leonard Levine told reporters, adding: "We're not through by a long shot."

Presenting their case, prosecutors said that it was Jon who kept in touch with the women after he had assaulted them. At one point they played a home-made video tape featuring Jon asking a girl to take off her clothes before sexually abusing her. The jury saw her telling the camera that she was 18. However, the young woman later testified that she was actually 17 years old and Jon had told her to lie about her age.

Jon, who arrived in court with his hair drawn back into a ponytail and wearing a light grey suit and yellow tie, was described as blank-faced as the verdicts were read. He grimly acknowledged supporters, including family members, as he was led out by court officers. A sister of the designer was heard to gasp on hearing the guilty verdicts.

Seven women who were called to testify for the prosecution were alleged victims of assaults committed in two other states – New York and Texas – where additional charges are pending against Jon.