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One-time Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries was heard on tape saying to his UK-based partner how they are in serious trouble and in deep trouble if he was found fit to face trial on human trafficking charges in the coming months, a federal court in NY has been told.

The audio were among more than 100 telephone conversations between the one-time CEO and Matthew Smith played during a lengthy legal competency hearing on Long Island on Long Island.

Jeffries' lawyers argue that he is suffering with dementia and the onset of the disease and is unfit to stand trial alongside his partner and their accused facilitator in October.

Nevertheless, the prosecution contend their health professionals concluded his mental state has gotten better and that the conversations reveal he is remarkably preoccupied on being found incompetent.

In other audio clips, Jeffries says he is hoping for a good outcome, describing being ruled able as a disaster, and instructs a physician: you must rule me incompetent, the Central Islip court heard.

Court Hearings and Psychiatric Evidence

The calls were recorded last year while he was being held for four months in a mental health unit at a correctional institution in North Carolina to see if he could restore fitness.

The 81-year-old had previously been found legally unfit last May but prison officials then announced in December that he was fit for proceedings following his hospital stay.

Government attorneys informed the court Jeffries often complained about life in jail and was caught on tape explaining to Smith how awful incarceration was, remarking: that's why we got to pull this off.

Background

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

They have pleaded not guilty the allegations, which carry a potential penalty of life imprisonment.

Their being taken into custody followed an report that uncovered the trio had been at the centre of a sophisticated operation sourcing men for sex around the world while Jeffries was the head of Abercrombie & Fitch.

The Honorable Nusrat J. Choudhury will make a determination in May about whether Jeffries will stand trial after reviewing the statements of several professionals - psychologists, psychiatrists and medical experts, including prison doctors - who were questioned in proceedings this week.

'Disinhibited' Conduct

Three defense witnesses, testify that Jeffries is cognitively impaired due to the residual effects of a traumatic brain injury, probable Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They stated that Jeffries demonstrates disinhibited and improper behaviour, which is symptomatic of a range of symptoms.

Reported incidents involve Jeffries calling the prosecutor's expert witness a insult, complimenting her hair, informing another expert his clothing was badly made, and referring to his partner Smith as a derogatory term, they say.

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

"I can't go on trips without you," Jeffries was overheard saying to Smith from prison.

The prosecution suggest this demonstrates his understanding that he would go free if he was ruled unfit and the indictment were dropped.

In contrast, the defence's medical experts have a different view, arguing it instead points to that Jeffries has forgotten his court-ordered limits and the seriousness of the situation.

"There wasn't the normal reaction that I would anticipate someone to have who is facing such severe allegations," said one forensic psychiatrist who reviewed Jeffries.

"Rather, his behavior throughout the assessment... was almost like we were having lunch at his country club. There was no sense of alarm."

Opposing Psychiatric Diagnoses

Reports indicated there is evidence that Jeffries' cognitive deterioration began in 2013, when scans showed brain shrinkage, which was exacerbated by a accident in 2018.

Jeffries had been consuming alcohol at the time 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 general intake had a major impact on his health.

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

Experts from a Federal Medical Center testified that Jeffries was able after assessing him over four months in the facility.

They contend his mental faculties did not match Alzheimer's disease, which the court heard could not be conclusively diagnosed until an post-mortem could be performed.

"Even given the reduction that Mr Jeffries has undergone... he still is sharper and more functioning intellectually than probably 95% of the inmates that we test for fitness," stated one expert.

Jeffries, dressed in a formal wear in the hearing, was described as cheerful and quite engaging during interactions in prison, and was intentionally being provocative, at times using disrespectful terms.

They diagnosed Jeffries with slight deficits and indicated his results may have risen since 2023 from borderline or impaired to normal because of sobriety and better treatment during his stay.

109 Recorded Conversations Present Issues

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