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 .