🔗 Share this article

One-time Abercrombie & Fitch chief executive Mike Jeffries was taped telling his associate that they were finished and in deep trouble if he was declared able to go to trial on human trafficking charges this autumn, a federal court in NY has learned.

The taped conversations were included in in excess of 100 phone calls between the former retail executive and Matthew Smith cited during a lengthy legal competency hearing on Long Island on Long Island.

Jeffries' attorneys assert that he is coping with cognitive decline and late onset of Alzheimer's and is not competent to face trial together with his partner and their accused middleman in October.

However, government lawyers argue their doctors found his health has gotten better and that the recordings reveal he is remarkably preoccupied on being declared not competent.

In further audio clips, Jeffries is heard saying he is wishing for a good outcome, characterizing being deemed competent as a disaster, and instructs a physician: you better find me incompetent, the judge learned.

Judicial Process and Health Testimony

The recordings were made the previous year while he was being treated for several months in a psychiatric facility at a federal prison in North Carolina to see if he could recover his faculties.

The 81-year-old had earlier been ruled mentally incompetent last May but facility staff then declared in December that he was competent for trial following his hospital stay.

Prosecutors advised the court Jeffries frequently griped about incarceration and was recorded telling to Smith how terrible jail was, stating: which is why we must make this work.

The Case

Jeffries, his partner Smith, 62, and their purported intermediary James Jacobson, 73, were accused with operating a global human trafficking and commercial sex operation in October 2024.

They have entered not guilty pleas the accusations, which could result in a maximum sentence of a life term.

Their detentions were prompted by an investigation that showed the group had been at the core of a elaborate scheme scouting individuals for sex around the world while Jeffries was CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch.

The Honorable Nusrat J. Choudhury will make a determination in May about whether Jeffries will stand trial after reviewing the statements of six experts - experts, doctors and medical experts, including facility doctors - who were questioned in the courtroom recently.

'Unrestrained' Behavior

Three medical witnesses for the defense, maintain that Jeffries is legally unfit due to the after-effects of a brain trauma, likely dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They said under oath that Jeffries demonstrates unfiltered and improper conduct, which is part of a spectrum of dementia symptoms.

Examples are Jeffries calling the prosecution's psychologist a derogatory term, praising her hair, telling another expert his clothing was ill-fitting, and referring to his partner Smith as a dwarf, according to testimony.

He was also taped in excruciating detail on around 20 jail conversations discussing his international travel plans for the next few months, notwithstanding having been on restricted movement since 2024.

"I don't want to go on trips without you," Jeffries was recorded telling Smith from prison.

Prosecutors suggest this demonstrates his recognition that he would go free if he was found incompetent and the indictment were dropped.

Conversely, the defense's expert witnesses have a different view, stating it instead underscores that Jeffries does not remember his court-ordered limits and the severity of the charges.

"I didn't see the appropriate reaction that I would anticipate someone to have who is confronting such grave charges," stated one doctor who reviewed Jeffries.

"Rather, his manner during the evaluation... was almost like we were having a meal at his club. There was no sign of anxiety."

Conflicting Medical Assessments

Reports indicated there is information that Jeffries' decline began in 2013, when tests showed reduction in volume, which was accelerated by a fall in 2018.

Jeffries had been drinking alcohol at the time of the 2018 fall and his records showed he continued drinking after being hospitalised, but an expert told the judge he did not think his overall drinking had a significant effect on his health.

After the fall, Jeffries experienced psychosis, and began having visions, with one event in 2019 where he was found in his underwear, unable to move, in a nearby property.

Doctors from a prison hospital said that Jeffries was competent after observing him over several months in custody.

They say his mental faculties did not align with Alzheimer's disease, which the court heard could not be definitively confirmed until an examination could be performed.

"Even given the declines that Mr Jeffries has experienced... he still is sharper and more capable mentally than probably 95% of the individuals that we test for fitness," said one expert.

Jeffries, dressed in a business attire in the courtroom, was reported to be cheerful and quite charismatic during interactions in the facility, and was deliberately being provocative, at times using familiar address.

They diagnosed Jeffries with minor cognitive impairments and said his testing scores may have improved since 2023 from borderline or impaired to typical because of sobriety and improved management of prescriptions during his confinement.

109 Recorded Conversations Present Issues

Fundamental to determining fitness is whether Jeffries understands the charges against him, their penalties, the {legal proceedings|court process|trial