File this under "Asian Shame":

Indian American fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander was convicted of 20 counts of serial rape this week.

The 35-year-old designer was featured on "America's Next Top Model" and has worked with celebrities like Paris Hilton, Oprah Winfrey and Mary J. Blige. He was born in India and emigrated to the States to study design. His work is described as fusing east and west (argh).

He's convicted of luring several girls and women aged 14 to 21 to his apartment with promises of modeling contracts, then raping them. His family has been campaigning to get the Indian government involved, to no avail. They say he was framed, but the arguments made on his support site seem flimsy at first glance.

Not much comment to make here. Here's his website if you want to see his designs. And see the interview above from about eight years ago for a little -- in hindsight -- creepy discussion of his being raised by women and encouraged to be a brat. It's too bad: he's well-spoken, particularly for someone in the celebrity-ridden fashion world, and his perspective is interesting. In another life he'd be a role model ... in fact, he probably has been. Just that thought, more than anything, makes me shudder.