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One-time A&F top executive Mike Jeffries was taped saying to his UK-based partner how they were finished and in deep trouble if he was found fit to go to trial on trafficking accusations this autumn, a New York federal court has learned.

The taped conversations were among more than 100 telephone conversations between the ex-fashion boss and Matthew Smith played during a multi-day legal competency hearing on Long Island on Long Island.

Jeffries' lawyers contend that he is coping with cognitive decline and the onset of Alzheimer's disease and is not competent to be tried next to his partner and their accused facilitator in October.

In contrast, prosecutors argue their medical experts found his mental state has gotten better and that the calls demonstrate he is remarkably fixated on being found unfit.

In further tapes, Jeffries is heard saying he is hoping for a good outcome, labeling being deemed competent as a disaster, and instructs a physician: you must rule me unfit, the court learned.

Legal Process and Health Opinions

The recordings were made last year while he was being held for several months in a treatment center at a federal prison in North Carolina to assess if he could recover his faculties.

The octogenarian had earlier been ruled legally unfit previously but prison officials then announced in December that he was fit for trial after his treatment period.

Government attorneys advised the judge Jeffries frequently protested incarceration and was recorded explaining to Smith how horrible jail was, stating: that's why we must pull this off.

The Case

Jeffries, his partner Smith, 62, and their alleged middleman James Jacobson, 73, were indicted with running a international human trafficking and prostitution enterprise in October 2024.

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

Their being taken into custody came after an investigation that uncovered the trio had been at the core of a sophisticated network recruiting men for sex internationally while Jeffries was chief executive of Abercrombie & Fitch.

The Honorable Nusrat J. Choudhury will make a determination in May about whether Jeffries will be tried after considering the statements of six experts - forensic psychologists, psychiatrists and brain specialists, including prison doctors - who were cross-examined in the courtroom this week.

'Inappropriate' Behaviour

A trio of defense witnesses, maintain that Jeffries is mentally incompetent due to the after-effects of a brain trauma, probable dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They testified that Jeffries demonstrates socially inappropriate and off-color behaviour, which is symptomatic of a spectrum of cognitive symptoms.

Reported incidents involve Jeffries calling the prosecutor's expert witness a cunning bitch, complimenting her hair, informing another expert his clothing was badly made, and describing his partner Smith as a dwarf, according to testimony.

He was also recorded in great detail on about 20 prison calls planning his trips abroad for the next few months, despite having been on restricted movement since 2024.

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

Prosecutors suggest this demonstrates his recognition that he would be released if he was declared incompetent and the indictment were dismissed.

However, the defence's witnesses disagree, arguing it instead highlights that Jeffries does not remember his conditions and the gravity of the case.

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

"Rather, his behavior during the assessment... was as if we were having lunch at his country club. There was no indication of distress."

Conflicting Psychiatric Diagnoses

Evidence indicated there is evidence that Jeffries' decline commenced in 2013, when scans showed brain shrinkage, which was exacerbated by a accident in 2018.

Jeffries had been consuming alcohol at the moment of the 2018 incident and his history showed he persisted in drinking after being hospitalised, but an expert told the judge he did not think his typical alcohol consumption had a significant effect on his health.

In the wake of the fall, Jeffries suffered a psychotic break, and began having visions, with one incident in 2019 where he was discovered in his underclothes, unable to move, in a neighbor's yard.

Medical professionals from a treatment facility testified that Jeffries was competent after observing him over an extended period in custody.

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

"Even given the declines that Mr Jeffries has suffered... he still is more capable and more able intellectually than probably 95% of the inmates that we evaluate for competency," stated one expert.

Jeffries, wearing a business attire in the hearing, was reported to be jovial and rather charismatic during meetings in the facility, and was purposely testing the limits, at times using disrespectful address.

They assessed Jeffries with mild neurocognitive deficits and suggested his performance on tests may have improved since 2023 from low or impaired to typical because of abstinence from alcohol and improved management of prescriptions during his stay.

109 Recorded Conversations Prompt Concerns

Fundamental to establishing fitness is whether Jeffries grasps the charges against him, their penalties, the {legal proceedings|court process|trial