The widow of “Playboy” founder Hugh Hefner has referred to as for an investigation into her late husband’s foundation, which she alleges possesses his private scrapbooks and diary containing troves of extremely delicate data and explicit pictures of girls and, “possibly,” underage ladies.
The announcement was made Tuesday at a news conference held by high-profile girls’s rights legal professional Gloria Allred, who’s representing Crystal Hefner in regulatory complaints filed in two totally different states in opposition to the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation.
Hefner mentioned she believes the foundation has about 3,000 of her late husband’s private scrapbooks, containing hundreds of nude photographs, involving sexual exercise and intimate moments.
“The materials span decades beginning in the 1960s. And may include images of girls who were underage at the time and could not consent to how their images would be retained or controlled,” Hefner mentioned.
“They may also contain images of women who did not consent to their images being taken in the first place,” she added.
Some of the photographs, Allred mentioned, could have been taken whereas the ladies have been intoxicated.
“It is critical for the public to understand that I am not referring to images that appeared in magazines,” Hefner mentioned. “My focus is on how Hugh Hefner’s personal scrapbooks chronicled private moments that took place behind closed doors.”
The legal professional mentioned she had filed regulatory complaints with the legal professional’s common places of work of California, the place the Hugh Hefner lived, and Illinois, the place the foundation is headquartered, to request an investigation into how the photographs are being dealt with and saved in an effort to stop any potential distribution of the photographs.
Allred displayed copies of the 2 regulatory complaints through the information convention. NCS has reached out to Allred’s workplace and California Attorney General’s Office.
A spokesperson for the Illinois Attorney’s General Office mentioned it has obtained the criticism and is reviewing it.
It’s not clear how the foundation would have gained entry to the scrapbooks. Hefner mentioned she was instructed the scrapbooks are in “a storage facility in California,” however she was beforehand instructed some could possibly be inside a personal residence “to be scanned and digitized,” expressing concern they could possibly be bought or misplaced in an information leak.
“Crystal did not consent to having her intimate images stored by and accessible to the foundation, and we believe that many of the other women and or girls depicted did not consent either,” Allred mentioned Tuesday.
Hefner mentioned she was eliminated as chief government officer and president of the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation Monday after she refused to resign when requested to take action.
“The concerns I raised about consent, safety, and security were ignored,” Hefner mentioned. “Though I declined to resign my position yesterday in direct response to my escalating concerns regarding the handling of private photos contained in the scrapbooks, I was unilaterally removed.”
The Hugh M. Hefner Foundation didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark. NCS reached out to the foundation’s workers and board of administrators for remark about Crystal Hefner’s departure and her allegations.
On its web site, the foundation says it’s a philanthropic group that “supports and funds today’s pioneers defending civil rights and liberties with special emphasis on First Amendment rights and rational sex and drug policies.”
Allred instructed reporters they don’t know if the fabric is being digitized however is asking on these legal professional’s common to research.
No proof supporting any of Allred or Hefner’s claims was supplied on the information convention.
“This is not about money. I am seeking dignity, safety and the destruction of non-consensual intimate materials so that the exploitation does not continue under the banner of philanthropy,” Hefner mentioned.
“Thousands of women may be affected. This is a civil rights issue. Women’s bodies are not property, not history, and not collectibles,” she added.