🔗 Share this article

Former A&F chief executive Mike Jeffries was recorded saying to his associate how they are in serious trouble and in grave danger if he was deemed able to face trial on human trafficking allegations later this year, a US district court has heard.

The taped conversations were included in over 100 recorded calls between the ex-fashion boss and Matthew Smith cited during a four-day fitness to stand trial proceeding on Long Island on Long Island.

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

However, the prosecution contend their doctors found his condition has stabilized and that the recordings show he is remarkably fixated on being found unfit.

In additional recordings, Jeffries states he is wishing for a favorable ruling, labeling being found fit as a catastrophe, and says to a physician: you must find me incompetent, the court learned.

Judicial Proceedings and Health Testimony

The calls were recorded the previous year while he was being treated for several months in a treatment center at a federal prison in North Carolina to see if he could restore fitness.

The elderly defendant had in the past been deemed not competent in May but prison officials then announced in December that he was able for proceedings subsequent to his treatment period.

Government attorneys advised the judge Jeffries frequently protested life in jail and was caught on tape telling to Smith how horrible jail was, remarking: which is why we got to pull this off.

Background

Jeffries, his partner Smith, 62, and their alleged go-between James Jacobson, 73, were charged with operating a worldwide sex trafficking and commercial sex operation in October 2024.

They have denied the allegations, which could result in a potential penalty of a life term.

Their detentions came after an exposé that showed the three had been at the heart of a sophisticated operation scouting individuals for sex around the world while Jeffries was the head of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury will decide in May about whether Jeffries will face trial after reviewing the testimony of six experts - forensic psychologists, specialists and brain specialists, including prison doctors - who were examined in the courtroom during the hearing.

'Unrestrained' Conduct

A trio of defence experts, argue that Jeffries is legally unfit due to the after-effects of a traumatic brain injury, likely Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They stated that Jeffries shows unfiltered and off-color conduct, which is consistent with a spectrum of symptoms.

Instances include Jeffries referring to the prosecutor's psychologist a insult, remarking on her hair, informing another expert his clothing was ill-fitting, and referring to his partner Smith as a midget, they say.

He was also taped in minute detail on approximately 20 jail conversations talking about his travel itinerary for the near future, notwithstanding having been on restricted movement since 2024.

"I wouldn't want to go on trips without you," Jeffries was overheard telling Smith from incarceration.

Prosecutors argue this demonstrates his awareness that he would be released if he was ruled unfit and the indictment were dropped.

However, the defense's medical experts disagree, saying it instead underscores that Jeffries fails to recall his conditions and the gravity of the charges.

"I didn't see the appropriate affect that I would anticipate someone to have who is confronting such serious charges," testified one forensic psychiatrist who evaluated Jeffries.

"On the contrary, his manner during the assessment... was as if we were having a meal at his country club. There was no indication of anxiety."

Opposing Psychiatric Assessments

Testimony indicated there is information that Jeffries' decline started in 2013, when scans showed mild atrophy, which was worsened by a incident in 2018.

Jeffries had been intoxicated at the moment of the 2018 incident and his records showed he kept on drinking subsequent to being treated, but an expert told the judge he did not think his overall intake had a significant effect on his condition.

Following the fall, Jeffries suffered a psychotic break, and began seeing things, with one episode in 2019 where he was discovered in his underclothes, immobile, in a neighbor's yard.

Doctors from a Federal Medical Center said that Jeffries was competent after observing him over several months in prison.

They contend his intellectual functioning were not consistent with Alzheimer's disease, which the court heard could not be definitively confirmed until an post-mortem could be performed.

"Even given the declines that Mr Jeffries has suffered... he still is more capable and more functioning cognitively than probably 95% of the inmates that we test for competency," stated one expert.

Jeffries, dressed in a business attire in the court, was described as cheerful and rather engaging during meetings in the facility, and was intentionally pushing boundaries, at times using disrespectful terms.

They assessed Jeffries with mild neurocognitive deficits and said his testing scores may have gotten better since 2023 from borderline or deficient to average because of abstinence from alcohol and better management of prescriptions during his confinement.

109 Jail Recordings Raise Concerns

Key to establishing competency is whether Jeffries comprehends the charges against him, their penalties, the {legal proceedings|court process|trial