Mike Marsland/WireImage
Philip Green.
- UK
retail magnate Philip Green has been charged with four counts of misdemeanor assault in Arizona. - Green is the chairman of Arcadia Group, which owns brands like Topshop and Topman.
- The company has been forced to shutter stores recently as it struggles to survive amid competition from online retailers.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Philip Green, the UK magnate behind retailers like Topshop, is facing misdemeanor assault charges in the US, after a fitness instructor reportedly accused him of unwanted groping in Arizona.
Green, 67, has been charged with four accounts of misdemeanor assault, according to online court records from Pima County in Arizona. The full complaint against Green was not immediately available online. An arraignment has been scheduled for Jun. 19, according to the filings.
Green has denied the allegations against him, Reuters reported, citing Britain's Press Association.
The charges are another hit for Arcadia Group, the ailing UK retailer that own brands like Topshop, Topman, Burton, and Dorothy Perkins. Green is the chairman of Arcadia, which is owned by his wife, Tina Green.
In May, apparently unrelated to the charges against Green, Arcadia announced that it would shutter all 11 Topshop stores in the US, as well as 23 of Arcadia's 566 stores in the UK and Ireland, because the brick-and-mortar retailer was struggling against "ever-increasing online competition."
Read more: Topshop billionaire exec Philip Green accused of sexual misconduct
Arcadia follows traditional retailers like Dressbarn, CVS, and Pier 1 Imports, which have been forced to close stores in the US as more people shift their shopping online.
Arcadia group sales reportedly fell 10.5% to £1.7bn in the year ending August 2018.
According to the Reuters report, the charges filed in Arizona against Green were in connection with allegations by a pilates instructor that Green had inappropriately touched her at a Tucson resort in 2016 and 2018.
Arcadia did not immediately respond to Business Insider's email about the charges on Saturday.
Green "strenuously denies" the allegations, Arcadia said in a statement on Green's behalf that was published by Reuters. The statement also noted that sexual assault or misconduct charges were not filed against Green..
Green was at the center of a #MeToo scandal in the UK last year after The Telegraph published an investigation into allegations sexual harassment and racist behavior by a "leading businessman," who was later revealed to be Green. Green denied any "unlawful sexual or racist behavior."