SAN JOSE — A boxing instructor and registered sex offender has been charged with sexually assaulting two clients at his San Jose gym and trying to extort an employee by withholding her pay unless she sent him nude photos, authorities say.
Tristan Arfi, 42, has been charged with sexual assault and extortion involving customers and an employee at a San Jose boxing gym he operated, according to authorities. (California Dept. of Justice)
Tristan Georges Arfi, 42, of San Jose, was arrested Thursday and has been charged with seven felony sexual assault counts, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
Arfi was scheduled to be arraigned in a San Jose courtroom Friday. A call to the gym where he worked was routed directly to a voicemail service that was not accepting new messages Friday.
The charges are based in part on allegations by two women who were clients of YBX Gym in downtown San Jose, for which police and prosecutors say Arfi was the chief operating officer.
According to a joint investigation by the San Jose Police Department and the DA’s Bureau of Investigations, the women reported that Arfi groped and caressed them “in a sexually inappropriate manner” after he offered them private massages.
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Authorities also allege that Arfi tried to extort a woman working at the gym by refusing to pay her unless she agreed to send him nude photos of herself. He is also accused of making employees sign non-disclosure agreements prohibiting them from speaking openly about what took place at the gym, which prosecutors say are not enforceable if they prevent signatories from reporting misconduct including harassment, discrimination or criminal activity.
In December 2019, Arfi pleaded no contest to a felony charge of lewd and lascivious acts with a child 14 or 15 years of age at a boxing gym in Menlo Park, according to authorities and San Mateo County court records. The conviction required him to register as a sex offender with the California Department of Justice.
Authorities are exploring the possibility of additional victims in the case. Anyone with information related to the criminal charges can contact Investigator Christina Hanks at 408-792-2851 or by email at chanks@dao.sccgov.org.