A Swiss model agency owner has been jailed for over two years after he was convicted of sexually abusing young male models as young as 15.

One of his 16 victims, named, told the Zurich High Court: “When I woke up in the middle of the night, he was inside me.”

The 35-year-old model agency owner, who has not been named due to strict local privacy laws, has been jailed for 28 months after he failed to convince the court of his innocence on Monday, 7th November.

When asked by the judge why 16 people had made similar statements, the accused said in court on Monday morning: “I am the victim of a hate campaign on social media.”

His victims were 15 to 25 years old and he was on trial for assaults dating from 2011 to 2020.

Instead of putting them on a catwalk or in glossy photoshoots, the agency boss demanded sex from his young models and if he did not get his way, he coerced his victims, according to prosecutors.

The 35-year-old had denied most of the allegations last year before the Zurich District Court, a lower court.

This time, the defendant, who was reportedly 40 minutes late to court, refused to testify, with his lawyer claiming that the sex was consensual.

After finding him guilty of sexual assault, desecration and other sexual offences including having sex with minors, his sentence was however reduced from three years in prison to a 28-month conditional sentence, with a minimum of 10 months behind bars, on the grounds that he did not take advantage of his victims in a time of crisis.

But the 35-year-old has nonetheless been banned for life from working with minors.

The court ruled that he had made the young men believe that sex was part of the modelling business and “shamelessly exploited the men”, according to the presiding judge.

One of the victims, aged 17 at the time, said that the defendant plied him with alcohol before abusing him after he had passed out. He said: “When I woke up in the middle of the night, he was inside me.”

The victim was unable to defend himself and could only ask that the defendant use a condom, according to the prosecutor.

The court also heard how the 35-year-old tore the underwear off a 19-year-old who tried to resist him.

It was also believed that the defendant had used knockout drops to render his victims unconscious, but this could not be proven by the prosecution.

The verdict can still be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.