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One-time A&F CEO Mike Jeffries was recorded informing his associate how they were in serious trouble and in deep trouble if he was found able to face trial on human trafficking charges in the coming months, a federal court in NY has learned.

The recordings were included in in excess of 100 recorded calls between the one-time CEO and Matthew Smith cited during a four-day mental competency proceeding on Long Island on Long Island.

Jeffries' attorneys assert that he is battling cognitive decline and the onset of Alzheimer's disease and is not competent to stand trial alongside his partner and their purported middleman in October.

In contrast, government lawyers say their doctors found his mental state has stabilized and that the conversations demonstrate he is incredibly focused on being ruled not competent.

In other audio clips, Jeffries says he is wishing for a favorable ruling, characterizing being ruled able as a catastrophe, and instructs a physician: you better rule me incompetent, the judge was told.

Judicial Proceedings and Medical Opinions

The conversations were taped the previous year while he was being held for four months in a mental health unit at a US prison in North Carolina to determine if he could recover fitness.

The octogenarian had previously been found legally unfit last May but correctional authorities then announced in December that he was competent for proceedings after his treatment period.

Government attorneys advised the court Jeffries frequently griped about prison conditions and was caught on tape explaining to Smith how horrible incarceration was, adding: that's why we must succeed.

Context

Jeffries, his partner Smith, 62, and their purported middleman James Jacobson, 73, were charged with orchestrating a international human trafficking and prostitution operation in October 2024.

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

Their arrests were prompted by an exposé that revealed the three had been at the centre of a complex operation sourcing men for sex around the world while Jeffries was chief executive 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 six experts - experts, psychiatrists and brain specialists, including correctional physicians - who were questioned in proceedings during the hearing.

'Disinhibited' Behaviour

Several defence experts, testify that Jeffries is legally unfit due to the residual effects of a head injury, suspected a form of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They stated that Jeffries exhibits disinhibited and off-color behavior, which is part of a set of symptoms.

Examples are Jeffries calling the prosecutor's expert witness a cunning bitch, 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 about 20 recorded calls discussing his travel itinerary for the near future, notwithstanding having been on restricted movement since 2024.

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

The prosecution argue this demonstrates his awareness that he would go free if he was declared unfit and the case were dismissed.

Conversely, the defence's witnesses have a different view, saying it instead highlights that Jeffries does not remember his conditions and the gravity of the situation.

"I didn't see the appropriate emotional response that I would expect someone to have who is facing such grave charges," stated one doctor who reviewed Jeffries.

"Rather, his behavior throughout the assessment... was almost like we were having a meal at his club. There was no indication of anxiety."

Conflicting Psychiatric Diagnoses

Evidence indicated there is information that Jeffries' mental decline started in 2013, when scans showed mild atrophy, which was exacerbated by a fall in 2018.

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

After the fall, Jeffries became psychotic, and began having visions, with one event in 2019 where he was located in his underclothes, unable to move, in a neighbor's yard.

Experts from a prison hospital said that Jeffries was fit after assessing him over four months in prison.

They assert his intellectual functioning were not consistent with 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 brighter and more capable cognitively than probably 95% of the patients that we assess for fitness," testified one expert.

Jeffries, dressed in a suit and tie in the hearing, was reported to be lighthearted and quite charismatic during meetings in the facility, and was intentionally being provocative, sometimes using disrespectful terms.

They found Jeffries with mild neurocognitive deficits and indicated his testing scores may have risen since 2023 from low or deficient to average because of sobriety and improved management of prescriptions during his stay.

109 Jail Recordings Raise Concerns

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