Former the fashion retailer top executive Mike Jeffries was recorded telling his associate that they were screwed and in deep trouble if he was found competent to stand trial on sex trafficking allegations later this year, a New York federal court has learned.
The recordings were part of more than 100 phone calls between the one-time CEO and Matthew Smith referred to during a multi-day mental competency hearing this week on Long Island.
Jeffries' attorneys contend that he is battling cognitive decline and late onset of Alzheimer's and is incapable to face trial alongside his partner and their purported middleman in October.
In contrast, prosecutors say their medical experts concluded his mental state has stabilized and that the conversations show he is incredibly fixated on being found unfit.
In other recordings, Jeffries states he is wishing for a positive result, describing being deemed competent as a catastrophe, and instructs a doctor: you had better rule me unfit, the judge was told.
The calls were taped in the past year while he was being treated for a period of months in a mental health unit at a federal prison in North Carolina to assess if he could restore his faculties.
The octogenarian had in the past been deemed not competent in May but correctional authorities then stated in December that he was competent for proceedings subsequent to his evaluation.
Prosecutors advised the judge Jeffries repeatedly complained about incarceration and was recorded explaining to Smith how awful incarceration was, adding: that's why we have to make this work.
Jeffries, his partner Smith, 62, and their purported middleman James Jacobson, 73, were indicted with operating a worldwide human trafficking and commercial sex business in October 2024.
They have pleaded not guilty the allegations, which have a potential penalty of a life term.
Their arrests were prompted by an investigation that uncovered the group had been at the core of a complex scheme recruiting young men for sex globally while Jeffries was chief executive of Abercrombie & Fitch.
Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury will rule in May about whether Jeffries will face trial after reviewing the evidence of several professionals - experts, psychiatrists and medical experts, including facility doctors - who were examined in the courtroom during the hearing.
A trio of defence experts, testify that Jeffries is legally unfit due to the after-effects of a head injury, suspected Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
They stated that Jeffries demonstrates unfiltered and socially inappropriate behaviour, which is consistent with a set of symptoms.
Examples involve Jeffries calling the prosecution's psychologist a derogatory term, complimenting her hair, telling another expert his clothing was poorly tailored, and describing his partner Smith as a derogatory term, according to testimony.
He was also taped in minute detail on around 20 prison calls talking about his trips abroad for the near future, even though having been on home confinement since 2024.
"I can't go on trips without you," Jeffries was recorded saying to Smith from jail.
Prosecutors suggest this indicates his understanding that he would be released if he was declared incompetent and the case were dismissed.
However, the defense's witnesses have a different view, saying it instead points to that Jeffries fails to recall his court-ordered limits and the seriousness of the case.
"He lacked the expected emotional response that I would expect someone to have who is up against such severe allegations," stated one forensic psychiatrist who evaluated Jeffries.
"Rather, his manner throughout the evaluation... was as if we were having a meal at his home. There was no indication of alarm."
Reports indicated there is information that Jeffries' mental decline began in 2013, when tests showed brain shrinkage, which was accelerated by a incident in 2018.
Jeffries had been drinking alcohol at the moment of the 2018 event and his records showed he kept on drinking following being hospitalized, but an expert told the judge he did not think his general intake had a decisive influence on his health.
After the fall, Jeffries became psychotic, and began having visions, with one event in 2019 where he was located in his underwear, incapacitated, in a neighbour's garden.
Doctors from a treatment facility testified that Jeffries was able after assessing him over four months in the facility.
They contend his mental faculties 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 undergone... he still is more capable and more able cognitively than probably 95% of the inmates that we test for fitness," stated one neuropsychologist.
Jeffries, wearing a formal wear in the hearing, was reported to be cheerful and quite engaging during meetings in prison, and was deliberately testing the limits, sometimes using disrespectful terms.
They found Jeffries with minor cognitive impairments and said his performance on tests may have gotten better since 2023 from borderline or impaired to typical because of abstinence from alcohol and more consistent management of prescriptions during his confinement.
Key to establishing competency is whether Jeffries understands the charges against him, their consequences, the {legal proceedings|court process|trial
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