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Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries was taped informing his associate how they were finished and in deep trouble if he was declared competent to stand trial on trafficking charges this autumn, a federal court in NY has been told.

The recordings were among more than 100 telephone conversations between the ex-fashion boss and Matthew Smith referred to during a lengthy mental competency hearing recently on Long Island.

Jeffries' legal team argue that he is suffering with cognitive decline and late onset of Alzheimer's and is incapable to face trial alongside his partner and their purported intermediary in October.

In contrast, government lawyers argue their health professionals determined his condition has improved and that the calls show he is extremely fixated on being ruled not competent.

In other recordings, Jeffries is heard saying he is praying for a good outcome, characterizing being found fit as a disaster, and instructs a doctor: you must rule me unfit, the Central Islip court heard.

Court Proceedings and Psychiatric Opinions

The conversations were made the previous year while he was being evaluated for several months in a treatment center at a correctional institution in North Carolina to assess if he could restore his faculties.

The elderly defendant had previously been found mentally incompetent in May but prison officials then declared in December that he was competent for trial after his treatment period.

Prosecutors informed the court Jeffries often protested life in jail and was recorded telling to Smith how horrible jail was, remarking: that's why we got to pull this off.

Context

Jeffries, his partner Smith, 62, and their purported intermediary James Jacobson, 73, were accused with operating a international human trafficking and prostitution enterprise in October 2024.

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

Their detentions were prompted by an investigation that showed the trio had been at the core of a sophisticated scheme scouting young men for sex globally while Jeffries was chief executive of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Presiding Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury will rule in May about whether Jeffries will be tried after considering the statements of multiple specialists - forensic psychologists, psychiatrists and neurologists, including correctional physicians - who were cross-examined in the courtroom during the hearing.

'Unrestrained' Conduct

Several defense witnesses, maintain that Jeffries is cognitively impaired due to the after-effects of a brain trauma, suspected a form of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They said under oath that Jeffries demonstrates socially inappropriate and socially inappropriate conduct, which is consistent with a range of cognitive symptoms.

Examples include Jeffries calling the prosecution's expert witness a insult, remarking on her hair, informing another expert his clothing was badly made, and describing his partner Smith as a dwarf, the court heard.

He was also heard in great detail on approximately 20 recorded calls planning his international travel plans for the next few months, despite having been on home confinement since 2024.

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

The prosecution suggest this indicates his awareness that he would go free if he was declared incompetent and the indictment were dropped.

Conversely, the defense's witnesses disagree, saying it instead highlights that Jeffries does not remember his legal restrictions and the severity of the case.

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

"Rather, his manner throughout the evaluation... was as if we were having lunch at his country club. There was no sense of alarm."

Diverging Neurological Assessments

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

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

In the wake of the fall, Jeffries became psychotic, and started having visions, with one episode in 2019 where he was found in his underwear, incapacitated, in a neighbour's garden.

Medical professionals from a Federal Medical Center testified that Jeffries was competent after assessing him over several months in custody.

They assert his cognitive abilities did not align with Alzheimer's disease, which the court heard could not be conclusively diagnosed until an post-mortem could be performed.

"Even given the declines that Mr Jeffries has undergone... he still is sharper and more able cognitively than probably 95% of the patients that we test for fitness," testified one expert.

Jeffries, wearing a business attire in the court, was described as jovial and fairly engaging during meetings in the facility, and was intentionally pushing boundaries, at times using familiar terms.

They diagnosed Jeffries with slight deficits and indicated his performance on tests may have risen since 2023 from borderline or impaired to normal because of abstinence from alcohol and improved medication management during his evaluation.

109 Jail Recordings Present Issues

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