NEW YORK, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The Justice Department is investigating allegations of criminal price-fixing and collusion among top fashion-modeling agencies.
A Monday report by the Wall Street Journal said many of the leading agencies, including Ford Models Inc., Wilhelmina Model Agency Inc., Next Model Management Inc. and Elite Model Management Corp., already have been named in a civil antitrust suit filed by former models last year in a New York federal court.
The suit, whose claims parallel those in the federal inquiry, was granted class-action status last month. The New York-based firms are among those being investigated by the Justice Department, according to lawyers and industry executives.
Investigators are looking into whether the half-dozen top modeling agencies conspired to fix commissions they charge models for booking assignments, as well as the fees paid by photographers, magazines and retailers to book the models, the lawyers and executives said.
