🔗 Share this article

Ex- the fashion retailer CEO Mike Jeffries was heard on tape telling his UK-based partner how they'd be in serious trouble and in deep trouble if he was deemed able to go to trial on trafficking accusations in the coming months, a New York federal court has heard.

The taped conversations were among over 100 telephone conversations between the former retail executive and Matthew Smith played during a multi-day legal competency proceeding recently on Long Island.

Jeffries' legal team contend that he is battling cognitive decline and late onset of Alzheimer's and is unfit to stand trial next to his partner and their accused facilitator in October.

In contrast, the prosecution contend their doctors found his mental state has improved and that the conversations reveal he is remarkably preoccupied on being found unfit.

In other tapes, Jeffries states he is praying for a positive result, describing being found fit as a calamity, and tells a medical professional: you must rule me incompetent, the Central Islip court learned.

Legal Proceedings and Health Testimony

The conversations were taped the previous year while he was being evaluated for four months in a psychiatric facility at a federal prison in North Carolina to see if he could regain competency.

The 81-year-old had earlier been ruled legally unfit previously but prison officials then declared in December that he was able for trial following his evaluation.

The prosecution advised the court Jeffries frequently complained about incarceration and was caught on tape explaining to Smith how horrible jail was, remarking: that's why we have to make this work.

Background

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

They have denied the charges, which could result in a potential penalty of life in prison.

Their arrests came after an exposé that uncovered the three had been at the core of a complex scheme sourcing individuals for sex around the world while Jeffries was the head of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Presiding Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury will make a determination in May about whether Jeffries will be tried after weighing the evidence of multiple specialists - psychologists, specialists and medical experts, including correctional physicians - who were questioned in proceedings during the hearing.

'Inappropriate' Behavior

Three defense witnesses, testify that Jeffries is legally unfit due to the residual effects of a brain trauma, likely dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They said under oath that Jeffries shows socially inappropriate and socially inappropriate behaviour, which is consistent with a range of symptoms.

Reported incidents involve Jeffries referring to the prosecutor's psychologist a cunning bitch, remarking on her hair, informing another expert his clothing was poorly tailored, and referring to his partner Smith as a dwarf, according to testimony.

He was also recorded in minute detail on approximately 20 recorded calls planning his travel itinerary for the next few months, despite having been on restricted movement since 2024.

"I wouldn't want to go on trips without you," Jeffries was heard saying to Smith from jail.

The prosecution contend this indicates his awareness that he would regain his freedom if he was ruled unfit and the case were dismissed.

Conversely, the defence's medical experts disagree, stating it instead points to that Jeffries does not remember his conditions and the gravity of the charges.

"There wasn't the normal emotional response that I would expect someone to have who is facing such grave charges," said one doctor who evaluated Jeffries.

"Instead, his manner during the evaluation... was as if we were having lunch at his club. There was no sign of anxiety."

Conflicting Psychiatric Assessments

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

Jeffries had been drinking alcohol at the moment of the 2018 incident and his history showed he persisted in drinking following being hospitalized, but an expert told the judge he did not think his overall alcohol consumption had a major impact on his state.

In the wake of the fall, Jeffries became psychotic, and started seeing things, with one event in 2019 where he was located in his underwear, unable to move, in a neighbour's garden.

Medical professionals from a treatment facility said that Jeffries was fit after observing him over an extended period in custody.

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

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

Jeffries, wearing a business attire in the court, was reported to be cheerful and rather engaging during interactions in the facility, and was deliberately pushing boundaries, at times using familiar terms.

They assessed Jeffries with minor cognitive impairments and suggested his performance on tests may have improved since 2023 from low or deficient to normal because of stopping drinking and more consistent management of prescriptions during his confinement.

109 Jail Recordings Prompt Concerns

Central to establishing fitness is whether Jeffries grasps the allegations against him, their consequences, the {legal proceedings|court process|trial