Our slow news day just picked up its pace. A lot. Fashionista.com reports rumors are swirling about a bribery scandal at Prada and Miu Miu. The label's casting director, Russell Marsh, purportedly accepted bribes from IMG and Women modeling agencies to put their girls front and center in Prada and Miu Miu ads and runway shows. Looking at runway slideshows, it's pretty clear Women and IMG girls get prominent placement. Sasha Pivovarova of IMG, after all, has appeared in over nine Prada ad campaigns.

An e-mail supposedly from Marsh is circulating that says he'll be "going away for a while." Then again, it could be from a faux Marsh. Fashionista brought up the theory that a competing agency started all this in the hopes of getting its girls a fair shot with Miuccia's camp. Not unlikely. A Prada rep said she had no knowledge of the rumor and declined to comment. If it's true the label might get some good advice from the good people at Marc Jacobs, who are dealing with a bribery scandal of their own. Sigh. Oh, fashion industry...

Update: Tomaso Galli, group communication and external relations director for Prada, had this to say: "I can't believe this ... We have worked with Russell for so many years ... He is such a great guy!" And there you have it.

Prada Casting Director Accused of Bribes [Fashionista.com]