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Ex- A&F top executive Mike Jeffries was recorded informing his UK-based partner that they'd be screwed and in grave danger if he was deemed competent to stand trial on sex trafficking accusations later this year, a New York federal court has heard.

The audio were included in more than 100 phone calls between the former retail executive and Matthew Smith referred to during a multi-day fitness to stand trial proceeding this week on Long Island.

Jeffries' legal team assert that he is battling dementia and the onset of Alzheimer's and is not competent to stand trial alongside his partner and their accused middleman in October.

In contrast, prosecutors argue their medical experts concluded his health has stabilized and that the recordings show he is remarkably focused on being ruled incompetent.

In other tapes, Jeffries says he is hoping for a good outcome, characterizing being deemed competent as a catastrophe, and instructs a doctor: you must find me incompetent, the court learned.

Court Process and Health Opinions

The recordings were made in the past year while he was being treated for four months in a psychiatric facility at a US prison in North Carolina to see if he could recover competency.

The elderly defendant had earlier been ruled mentally incompetent previously but correctional authorities then declared in December that he was competent for proceedings subsequent to his evaluation.

Prosecutors informed the court Jeffries often protested life in jail and was recorded explaining to Smith how terrible incarceration was, remarking: which is why we got to succeed.

Background

Jeffries, his partner Smith, 62, and their purported intermediary James Jacobson, 73, were accused with running a worldwide trafficking and commercial sex enterprise in October 2024.

They have pleaded not guilty the allegations, which have a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Their being taken into custody followed an exposé that uncovered the three had been at the core of a complex network sourcing individuals for sex globally while Jeffries was CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch.

The Honorable Nusrat J. Choudhury will rule in May about whether Jeffries will stand trial after weighing the testimony of several professionals - experts, doctors and neurologists, including facility doctors - who were cross-examined in the courtroom during the hearing.

'Inappropriate' Conduct

Several defense witnesses, testify that Jeffries is legally unfit due to the lingering impact of a head injury, suspected a form of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They said under oath that Jeffries demonstrates disinhibited and improper conduct, which is part of a range of symptoms.

Examples involve Jeffries calling the prosecutor's professional psychologist a derogatory term, complimenting her hair, informing another expert his clothing was poorly tailored, and referring to his partner Smith as a derogatory term, according to testimony.

He was also heard in minute detail on around 20 prison calls discussing his international travel plans for the coming months, even though having been on restricted movement since 2024.

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

Prosecutors contend this indicates his recognition that he would regain his freedom if he was declared incompetent and the indictment were dropped.

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

"He lacked the appropriate reaction that I would expect someone to have who is confronting such severe charges," testified one forensic psychiatrist who assessed Jeffries.

"Rather, his demeanor during the evaluation... was as if we were having lunch at his country club. There was no sense of anxiety."

Conflicting Psychiatric Assessments

Evidence indicated there is information that Jeffries' decline began in 2013, when imaging showed brain shrinkage, which was accelerated by a accident in 2018.

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

After the fall, Jeffries became psychotic, and began having visions, with one incident in 2019 where he was discovered in his underwear, immobile, in a neighbor's yard.

Experts from a prison hospital testified that Jeffries was competent after assessing him over an extended period in prison.

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

"Even given the reduction that Mr Jeffries has suffered... he still is brighter and more functioning cognitively than probably 95% of the patients that we assess for competency," testified one neuropsychologist.

Jeffries, wearing a business attire in the courtroom, was reported to be jovial and fairly charismatic during meetings in the facility, and was intentionally testing the limits, sometimes using disrespectful terms.

They found Jeffries with mild neurocognitive deficits and indicated his results may have improved since 2023 from borderline or deficient to normal because of abstinence from alcohol and better treatment during his confinement.

109 Recorded Conversations Prompt Issues

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