🔗 Share this article

Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries was recorded informing his British partner that they were in serious trouble and in grave danger if he was deemed fit to face trial on sex trafficking allegations in the coming months, a New York federal court has learned.

The taped conversations were part of over 100 recorded calls between the former retail executive and Matthew Smith cited during a multi-day fitness to stand trial session this week on Long Island.

Jeffries' attorneys assert that he is coping with cognitive decline and late onset of Alzheimer's disease and is not competent to stand trial next to his partner and their purported intermediary in October.

In contrast, the prosecution say their medical experts determined his condition has gotten better and that the conversations demonstrate he is remarkably focused on being declared incompetent.

In other tapes, Jeffries is heard saying he is wishing for a positive result, describing being found fit as a disaster, and says to a medical professional: you had better find me incompetent, the Central Islip court learned.

Court Proceedings and Psychiatric Opinions

The conversations were taped the previous year while he was being held for four months in a psychiatric facility at a federal prison in North Carolina to determine if he could recover fitness.

The elderly defendant had earlier been ruled not competent last May but prison officials then announced in December that he was fit for proceedings following his hospital stay.

Government attorneys told the court Jeffries frequently griped about prison conditions and was recorded describing to Smith how awful prison was, adding: so we must make this work.

Context

Jeffries, his partner Smith, 62, and their accused middleman James Jacobson, 73, were accused with running a international sex trafficking and commercial sex operation in October 2024.

They have denied the accusations, which carry a potential penalty of life imprisonment.

Their detentions were prompted by an investigation that uncovered the group had been at the heart of a sophisticated operation scouting individuals for sex globally while Jeffries was the head of Abercrombie & Fitch.

The Honorable Nusrat J. Choudhury will make a determination in May about whether Jeffries will face trial after reviewing the testimony of several professionals - experts, psychiatrists and brain specialists, including facility doctors - who were questioned in court recently.

'Unrestrained' Behaviour

Several defence experts, testify that Jeffries is mentally incompetent due to the after-effects of a traumatic brain injury, likely dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They said under oath that Jeffries exhibits unfiltered and off-color behavior, which is part of a spectrum of dementia symptoms.

Reported incidents are Jeffries calling the prosecution's expert witness a insult, remarking on her hair, telling another expert his clothing was badly made, and describing his partner Smith as a dwarf, they say.

He was also taped in excruciating detail on about 20 jail conversations discussing his international travel plans for the next few months, even though having been on house arrest since 2024.

"I can't go on trips without you," Jeffries was heard telling Smith from jail.

Prosecutors suggest this shows his understanding that he would regain his freedom if he was declared unfit and the charges were dismissed.

However, the defence's medical experts disagree, stating it instead highlights that Jeffries fails to recall his court-ordered limits and the seriousness of the charges.

"I didn't see the expected reaction that I would expect someone to have who is confronting such grave allegations," stated one doctor who assessed Jeffries.

"Rather, his manner during the assessment... was as if we were having a chat at his home. There was no indication of anxiety."

Diverging Psychiatric Assessments

Reports indicated there is evidence that Jeffries' decline started in 2013, when tests showed mild atrophy, which was worsened by a fall in 2018.

Jeffries had been drinking alcohol at the time of the 2018 fall and his records showed he continued drinking subsequent to being hospitalized, but an expert told the judge he did not think his typical drinking had a decisive influence on his state.

After the fall, Jeffries became psychotic, and began hallucinating, with one episode in 2019 where he was found in his underclothes, immobile, in a neighbour's garden.

Experts from a prison hospital said that Jeffries was competent after evaluating him over four months in prison.

They say his intellectual functioning did not match Alzheimer's disease, which the court heard could not be conclusively diagnosed until an post-mortem could be performed.

"Even given the reduction that Mr Jeffries has undergone... he still is more capable and more capable cognitively than probably 95% of the inmates that we assess for fitness," said one doctor.

Jeffries, dressed in a formal wear in the court, was reported to be jovial and fairly charismatic during evaluations in the facility, and was purposely pushing boundaries, sometimes using familiar terms.

They diagnosed Jeffries with mild neurocognitive deficits and said his performance on tests may have improved since 2023 from low or deficient to typical because of sobriety and improved medication management during his evaluation.

109 Jail Recordings Present Questions

Key to assessing fitness is whether Jeffries comprehends the charges against him, their implications, the {legal proceedings|court process|trial