(Bloomberg) -- Philip Green, the billionaire owner of Arcadia Group Ltd., was charged with four counts of misdemeanor assault in Arizona after a Pilates instructor said the U.K. businessman repeatedly touched her inappropriately during classes in the Canyon Ranch luxury resort in Tucson in 2016 and 2018.
“Each count has a potential sentence of up to 30 days in the Pima County jail, a fine of not more than $500 and up to one year of probation,” Lauren Deakin, Pima County's deputy county attorney, said in a statement.
Green, 67, “strenuously denies these allegations and is disappointed that the charges have been filed in his absence,” his office said in a statement.
Earlier this year, Green -- whose company owns retail chains Topshop and Miss Selfridge -- faced a formal bid to strip him of his British knighthood after reports that he tried to silence former employees who alleged he sexually and racially harassed them. It wasn't the first time. In 2016, 100 U.K. lawmakers tried to get his knighthood revoked, but the attempt wasn't legally binding. Green has denied those claims against him.
Read from February: Philip Green's #MeToo Moment of Reckoning: Andrea Felsted
Green's wealth has slumped on the back of slowing growth among brick-and-mortar retailers as more consumers buy online. He was worth as much as $6.6 billion six years ago, putting him among the upper ranks of Britain's richest, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He now has a fortune of $2 billion, with more than half of his wealth derived from dividends taken out of Arcadia.
--With assistance from Ben Stupples.
To contact the reporter on this story: Hailey Waller in New York at hwaller@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Matthew G. Miller
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