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Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries was taped informing his UK-based partner that they were in serious trouble and in deep trouble if he was declared able to stand trial on human trafficking allegations in the coming months, a federal court in NY has learned.

The taped conversations were included in more than 100 phone calls between the former retail executive and Matthew Smith referred to during a lengthy mental competency hearing recently on Long Island.

Jeffries' attorneys argue that he is coping with dementia and the onset of Alzheimer's disease and is incapable to stand trial next to his partner and their purported intermediary in October.

However, prosecutors say their medical experts concluded his mental state has improved and that the calls show he is remarkably fixated on being found unfit.

In additional recordings, Jeffries says he is praying for a favorable ruling, describing being found fit as a disaster, and says to a doctor: you must find me unfit, the Central Islip court learned.

Legal Process and Health Evidence

The calls were recorded in the past year while he was being held for several months in a treatment center at a correctional institution in North Carolina to determine if he could restore competency.

The 81-year-old had previously been found legally unfit in May but correctional authorities then announced in December that he was able for proceedings following his hospital stay.

The prosecution advised the court Jeffries often griped about life in jail and was recorded telling to Smith how horrible jail was, remarking: so we have to succeed.

The Case

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

They have entered not guilty pleas the allegations, which have a potential penalty of life in prison.

Their detentions were prompted by an report that revealed the three had been at the core of a complex operation sourcing men for sex around the world while Jeffries was CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury will make a determination in May about whether Jeffries will stand trial after weighing the evidence of six experts - forensic psychologists, doctors and medical experts, including correctional physicians - who were questioned in court during the hearing.

'Inappropriate' Conduct

Three defense witnesses, maintain that Jeffries is legally unfit due to the after-effects of a traumatic brain injury, probable a form of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They testified that Jeffries shows disinhibited and off-color behavior, which is symptomatic of a spectrum of cognitive symptoms.

Examples involve Jeffries calling the prosecutor's psychologist a cunning bitch, praising her hair, telling another expert his clothing was badly made, and describing his partner Smith as a derogatory term, they say.

He was also heard in excruciating detail on around 20 jail conversations talking about his trips abroad for the coming months, even though having been on home confinement since 2024.

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

Prosecutors suggest this shows his recognition that he would regain his freedom if he was declared incompetent and the indictment were dismissed.

However, the defense's expert witnesses have a different view, stating it instead highlights that Jeffries fails to recall his legal restrictions and the severity of the charges.

"He lacked the appropriate affect that I would anticipate someone to have who is up against such serious charges," testified one doctor who evaluated Jeffries.

"Instead, his behavior throughout the evaluation... was as if we were having a chat at his home. There was no sense of anxiety."

Diverging Medical Opinions

Testimony indicated there is data that Jeffries' mental decline commenced in 2013, when tests showed mild atrophy, which was accelerated by a fall in 2018.

Jeffries had been consuming alcohol at the moment of the 2018 fall and his history showed he kept on drinking after being hospitalized, but an expert told the judge he did not think his typical alcohol consumption had a decisive influence on his health.

After the fall, Jeffries became psychotic, and started seeing things, with one episode in 2019 where he was found in his underclothes, unable to move, in a nearby property.

Doctors from a prison hospital testified that Jeffries was able after observing him over several months in the facility.

They assert his intellectual functioning were not consistent with Alzheimer's disease, which the court heard could not be absolutely determined until an autopsy could be performed.

"Even given the declines that Mr Jeffries has undergone... he still is brighter and more functioning mentally than probably 95% of the patients that we test for competency," stated one doctor.

Jeffries, dressed in a formal wear in the court, was reported to be lighthearted and rather engaging during evaluations in the facility, and was purposely being provocative, at times using informal language.

They assessed Jeffries with mild neurocognitive deficits and suggested his performance on tests may have risen since 2023 from low or impaired to average because of sobriety and better management of prescriptions during his evaluation.

109 Prison Calls Present Issues

Key to establishing competency is whether Jeffries understands the allegations against him, their consequences, the {legal proceedings|court process|trial