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Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries was taped telling his UK-based partner that they were finished and in grave danger if he was declared able to stand trial on trafficking accusations this autumn, a US district court has been told.

The taped conversations were part of more than 100 telephone conversations between the former retail executive and Matthew Smith cited during a lengthy fitness to stand trial hearing recently on Long Island.

Jeffries' legal team assert that he is suffering with cognitive decline and the onset of the disease and is not competent to face trial alongside his partner and their alleged intermediary in October.

However, the prosecution say their doctors concluded his condition has improved and that the calls demonstrate he is incredibly focused on being found incompetent.

In additional tapes, Jeffries is heard saying he is praying for a favorable ruling, labeling being deemed competent as a calamity, and instructs a doctor: you had better rule me incompetent, the Central Islip court was told.

Court Hearings and Medical Evidence

The recordings were made the previous year while he was being evaluated for a period of months in a mental health unit at a correctional institution in North Carolina to see if he could recover competency.

The elderly defendant had earlier been ruled not competent last May but correctional authorities then announced in December that he was competent for proceedings subsequent to his treatment period.

Prosecutors advised the judge Jeffries repeatedly griped about incarceration and was heard telling to Smith how awful prison was, adding: that's why we have to pull this off.

Background

Jeffries, his partner Smith, 62, and their purported go-between James Jacobson, 73, were charged with running a global trafficking and prostitution enterprise in October 2024.

They have entered not guilty pleas the allegations, which have a maximum sentence of a life term.

Their arrests followed an investigation that uncovered the trio had been at the centre of a complex scheme recruiting young men for sex internationally while Jeffries was the head of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Presiding Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury will make a determination in May about whether Jeffries will face trial after reviewing the evidence of six experts - psychologists, specialists and medical experts, including facility doctors - who were cross-examined in proceedings this week.

'Disinhibited' Behaviour

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

They stated that Jeffries shows disinhibited and improper conduct, which is part of a set of symptoms.

Reported incidents involve Jeffries calling the prosecutor's psychologist a cunning bitch, praising her hair, telling another expert his clothing was poorly tailored, and describing his partner Smith as a dwarf, according to testimony.

He was also recorded in minute detail on approximately 20 jail conversations discussing his trips abroad for the near future, despite having been on house arrest since 2024.

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

The prosecution contend this shows his recognition that he would go free if he was ruled incompetent and the charges were dropped.

In contrast, the defence's witnesses disagree, stating it instead underscores that Jeffries has forgotten his legal restrictions and the gravity of the case.

"There wasn't the expected affect that I would expect someone to have who is up against such severe allegations," stated one doctor who evaluated Jeffries.

"On the contrary, his manner during the assessment... was almost like we were having lunch at his home. There was no sense of anxiety."

Opposing Medical Opinions

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

Jeffries had been drinking alcohol at the time of the 2018 incident and his medical records showed he persisted in drinking subsequent to being hospitalized, but an expert told the judge he did not think his overall alcohol consumption had a significant effect on his condition.

In the wake of the fall, Jeffries became psychotic, and began hallucinating, with one event in 2019 where he was discovered in his underclothes, unable to move, in a neighbour's garden.

Doctors from a Federal Medical Center stated that Jeffries was competent after observing him over an extended period in prison.

They say his mental faculties were not consistent with Alzheimer's disease, which the court heard could not be definitively confirmed until an post-mortem could be performed.

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

Jeffries, dressed in a suit and tie in the courtroom, was described as cheerful and rather personable during meetings in the facility, and was intentionally being provocative, sometimes using familiar address.

They found Jeffries with minor cognitive impairments and said his testing scores may have risen since 2023 from low or impaired to average because of abstinence from alcohol and more consistent treatment during his stay.

109 Prison Calls Present Questions

Key to determining competency is whether Jeffries grasps the charges against him, their consequences, the {legal proceedings|court process|trial