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One-time Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries was taped telling his associate how they'd be in serious trouble and in big trouble if he was deemed competent to go to trial on sex trafficking allegations this autumn, a federal court in NY has heard.

The audio were among in excess of 100 phone calls between the former retail executive and Matthew Smith referred to during a multi-day legal competency proceeding this week on Long Island.

Jeffries' lawyers assert that he is coping with dementia and the onset of Alzheimer's and is unfit to stand trial alongside his partner and their accused middleman in October.

In contrast, the prosecution contend their doctors concluded his health has improved and that the conversations reveal he is remarkably focused on being declared unfit.

In additional tapes, Jeffries says he is wishing for a good outcome, labeling being found fit as a catastrophe, and instructs a doctor: you better find me unfit, the Central Islip court learned.

Legal Hearings and Psychiatric Evidence

The calls were recorded in the past year while he was being evaluated for several months in a mental health unit at a US prison in North Carolina to assess if he could regain fitness.

The octogenarian had earlier been ruled not competent last May but facility staff then stated in December that he was competent for trial after his evaluation.

Government attorneys informed the court Jeffries often griped about incarceration and was caught on tape telling to Smith how terrible incarceration was, stating: which is why we got to pull this off.

Context

Jeffries, his partner Smith, 62, and their purported middleman James Jacobson, 73, were charged with operating a international trafficking and commercial sex enterprise in October 2024.

They have entered not guilty pleas the charges, which could result in a potential penalty of a life term.

Their detentions followed an exposé that revealed the group had been at the heart of a sophisticated scheme scouting young men for sex around the world while Jeffries was chief executive of Abercrombie & Fitch.

The Honorable Nusrat J. Choudhury will rule in May about whether Jeffries will be tried after weighing the statements of six experts - experts, specialists and brain specialists, including facility doctors - who were cross-examined in proceedings this week.

'Inappropriate' Behavior

Several medical witnesses for the defense, maintain that Jeffries is cognitively impaired due to the residual effects of a brain trauma, suspected Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They testified that Jeffries shows socially inappropriate and improper behaviour, which is consistent with a spectrum of dementia symptoms.

Instances involve Jeffries calling the prosecution's psychologist a insult, complimenting her hair, telling another expert his clothing was poorly tailored, and describing his partner Smith as a dwarf, they say.

He was also taped in excruciating detail on around 20 prison calls discussing 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 recorded saying to Smith from incarceration.

The prosecution contend this shows his recognition that he would be released if he was declared unfit and the charges were dropped.

Conversely, the defence's witnesses have a different view, saying it instead points to that Jeffries does not remember his legal restrictions and the severity of the situation.

"I didn't see the expected emotional response that I would expect someone to have who is facing such serious charges," said one forensic psychiatrist who evaluated Jeffries.

"On the contrary, his manner during the assessment... was similar to we were having a chat at his club. There was no indication of distress."

Diverging Neurological Diagnoses

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

Jeffries had been drinking alcohol at the moment of the 2018 event and his records showed he persisted in drinking following being hospitalized, but an expert told the judge he did not think his typical intake had a major impact on his health.

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

Medical professionals from a prison hospital said that Jeffries was able after assessing him over four months in the facility.

They assert his cognitive abilities did not align with 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 undergone... he still is sharper and more able mentally than probably 95% of the inmates that we test for fitness," testified one doctor.

Jeffries, wearing a business attire in the courtroom, was described as jovial and fairly engaging during meetings in prison, and was intentionally being provocative, sometimes using disrespectful terms.

They found Jeffries with mild neurocognitive deficits and suggested his results may have improved since 2023 from borderline or impaired to typical because of stopping drinking and improved management of prescriptions during his stay.

109 Jail Recordings Raise Concerns

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