Max Factor Heir Flees His Date-Rape Trial
Originally published by Reuters, January 7, 2003
LOS ANGELES, California — Andrew Luster, 39-year-old great-grandson of cosmetics mogul Max Factor, was being hunted by police Monday after vanishing in the midst of his trial on charges of drugging and raping three women.
An arrest warrant was issued for Luster after he apparently jumped bail of $1 million during the weekend, disappearing from his beachfront California home with his dog and much of his personal belongings.
Federal authorities were also expected to join the hunt for the millionaire fugitive, who faces a possible life prison term if convicted on more than 80 criminal counts that include rape, sexual battery and poisoning.
Prosecutors say Luster drugged three women with the synthetic depressant Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, and raped them. His alleged assaults on two of the women were videotaped, and graphic footage from the tapes has been shown at the sensational trial that began December 16.
Luster maintained his innocence during the trial and his lawyer argued that the cosmetics heir was a producer of pornographic videos and that the tapes portray consensual sex.
Ventura County District Attorney Gregory Totten said in a written statement that police suspected Luster had fled after he failed to check in with a probation officer on Friday night, as required under the terms of his house arrest.
A search of his home over the weekend turned up no sign of Luster, his dog or his sport utility vehicle, Totten said. The syndicated television show "Inside Edition" reported that Luster's private collection of Indian artifacts and entire wardrobe—except for winter clothing—was also missing.
Bail for Luster initially was set at $10 million after prosecutors argued that he was a flight risk. But an appeals court lowered the bail to $1 million on grounds that the original figure was far higher than the standard amount set for sexual assault cases.
His mother helped him post part of the $1 million.
Luster's lawyer, Roger Jon Diamond, could not immediately be reached for comment, but was quoted in the Los Angeles Times on Monday as saying he was skeptical that his client would try to flee and that he feared Luster may have been in a car accident. "Flight is inconsistent with everything I know about him."
Max Factor was the legendary Hollywood cosmetician who developed "pancake" makeup so that movie actors would not appear green in the early days of color film. When the makeup began to be worn offscreen, Factor and his son of the same name, who died in 1996, turned their niche business into a global cosmetics powerhouse. The business was sold to Procter & Gamble in the 1970s, cementing the family fortune.
