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Ex- Abercrombie & Fitch chief executive Mike Jeffries was recorded saying to his UK-based partner how they'd be in serious trouble and in big trouble if he was found competent to face trial on sex trafficking charges in the coming months, a New York federal court has been told.

The audio were part of in excess of 100 recorded calls between the one-time CEO and Matthew Smith played during a lengthy fitness to stand trial session this week on Long Island.

Jeffries' legal team argue that he is suffering with cognitive decline and late onset of the disease and is not competent to face trial together with his partner and their purported middleman in October.

In contrast, the prosecution contend their medical experts concluded his health has stabilized and that the conversations reveal he is extremely fixated on being declared unfit.

In further recordings, Jeffries says he is praying for a positive result, characterizing being deemed competent as a catastrophe, and tells a doctor: you better find me unfit, the court heard.

Judicial Hearings and Psychiatric Opinions

The conversations were recorded last year while he was being held for several months in a psychiatric facility at a correctional institution in North Carolina to determine if he could restore his faculties.

The elderly defendant had earlier been ruled mentally incompetent last May but correctional authorities then declared in December that he was competent for trial after his evaluation.

Government attorneys advised the court Jeffries frequently griped about prison conditions and was caught on tape explaining to Smith how horrible jail was, remarking: that's why we got to make this work.

Background

Jeffries, his partner Smith, 62, and their alleged go-between James Jacobson, 73, were charged with orchestrating a global sex trafficking and prostitution business in October 2024.

They have denied the charges, which have a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Their being taken into custody followed an report that uncovered the three had been at the core of a complex operation recruiting young men for sex globally while Jeffries was chief executive of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Presiding Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury will decide in May about whether Jeffries will face trial after weighing the testimony of six experts - psychologists, psychiatrists and neurologists, including prison doctors - who were examined in the courtroom during the hearing.

'Disinhibited' Behaviour

A trio of defence experts, testify that Jeffries is legally unfit due to the residual effects of a traumatic brain injury, probable dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They stated that Jeffries exhibits socially inappropriate and off-color behaviour, which is consistent with a set of symptoms.

Instances are Jeffries referring to the prosecutor's expert witness a insult, praising 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 taped in great detail on about 20 jail conversations planning his travel itinerary for the near future, despite having been on house arrest since 2024.

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

Prosecutors suggest this indicates his awareness that he would be released if he was declared unfit and the indictment were dismissed.

Conversely, the defence's expert witnesses disagree, arguing it instead points to that Jeffries has forgotten his conditions and the severity of the charges.

"There wasn't the normal affect that I would anticipate someone to have who is confronting such serious allegations," said one expert who evaluated Jeffries.

"Rather, his manner throughout the evaluation... was as if we were having lunch at his home. There was no sense of distress."

Diverging Psychiatric Diagnoses

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

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

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

Medical professionals from a Federal Medical Center testified that Jeffries was fit after evaluating him over four months in custody.

They say his cognitive abilities did not align with Alzheimer's disease, which the court heard could not be conclusively diagnosed until an autopsy could be performed.

"Even given the reduction that Mr Jeffries has experienced... he still is sharper and more functioning intellectually than probably 95% of the individuals that we evaluate for competency," stated one neuropsychologist.

Jeffries, dressed in a suit and tie in the courtroom, was reported to be cheerful and fairly personable during interactions in prison, and was purposely testing the limits, on occasion using informal language.

They found Jeffries with mild neurocognitive deficits and indicated his results may have gotten better since 2023 from borderline or impaired to normal because of sobriety and improved medication management during his confinement.

109 Prison Calls Raise Issues

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