Sorry it took me some time - this is a picture of John Casablancas, founder of model agency Elite, "judging" a candidate in the "Look of the Year" contest. Casablancas is the one with glasses.

He is now accused in Los Angeles of sexual abuse of a minor. The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, alleges that Casablancas began sexually abusing the girl in 1988 when she was a finalist in Elite's prestigious "Look of the Year" competition for fresh new faces.

The former model said she traveled with Casablancas to New York later that year when it was discovered she was pregnant by him. She alleges she was driven to a doctor's office and an abortion was arranged for her at the behest of Casablancas.

Casablancas set up the Elite agency in New York in 1970 and made it into one of the world's leading model agencies, guiding the careers of Linda Evangelista, Andie MacDowell and Kelly Emberg and rivaling the long-established Ford Models Inc.

The name of the plaintiff in the Los Angeles lawsuit is being withheld but her lawyer said she was now in her 30s, married with two children, and living in San Diego.

"What happened to me should never happen to any little girl. I hope that by coming forward I can protect other minor boys and girls working for Elite or any other agency," the plaintiff said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Casablancas denies the charges. He left Elite in 2000 and now runs the John Casablancas Modeling and Career Center in New York.

Elite was at the center of another sex storm in 1999 when a British television documentary caught the chairman of Elite Europe soliciting sex from an undercover journalist who was posing as an aspiring model. Two senior Elite executives were forced to resign.

Casablancas was accused in Michael Gross' best-seller "Models" to have taken advantage of several minors, including supermodel Stefanie Seymour.

He is regularly accused of milking would-be models, asking for "registration fees", "book expenses" etc. More about that here .

Man accused of stalking model detained
BY MARTIN DAVEY EAST ANGLIAN NEWSPAPER

The kitchen porter accused of stalking supermodel Claudia Schiffer was detained under the mental health act last night after he collapsed in court.

Agostino Pomata, 33, who is accused of harassing the German beauty at her Suffolk mansion, was remanded to a mental health institution in Blackheath, London, for 28 days while psychiatric reports are carried out.

During a prolonged hearing at Sudbury Magistrates' Court yesterday , the Sardinian-born former employee of Caffe Uno , in Bury St Edmunds - who denies the offence - needed medical attention after collapsing in the dock.

The end of the hearing was carried out in his absence while magistrates decided to detain him under section 35 of the Mental Health Act 1983.

Pomata appeared at court in Sudbury having been arrested by police on Tuesday afternoon, near the supermodel's home, after he failed to show up at court Bury St Edmunds that day.

He faces a charge that between September 23 and November 12 he pursued a course of conduct which amounted to the harassment of Claudia Schiffer, who married film producer Matthew Vaughn earlier this year.

The court made the decision to remand Pomata in hospital after hearing from a mental health nurse and Dr Godfrey Reynolds, police surgeon for west Suffolk, about his state of mind.

Andrew Fitch-Holland, prosecuting, said the charges relating to a number of visits Pomata is alleged to have made to the superstar couple's home Coldham Hall, in Stanningfield, near Lawshall.

Mr Fitch-Holland said the celebrity couple had owned the hall since November 1.

However in a statement to police the previous owner, Jens Pilo, "details a number of occasions, six, in which he had contact with a man the Crown say is Mr Pomata".

Gregory Perrins, representing Pomata, agreed that there was a "clear need for psychiatric reports".

The case was adjourned until January 8 at Sudbury.