Prison Phone Call Audio Spark Doubts About Ex-Abercrombie Executive's Fitness for Court Proceedings

One-time the fashion retailer chief executive Mike Jeffries was heard on tape informing his British partner how they are finished and in deep trouble if he was deemed competent to go to trial on human trafficking accusations later this year, a New York federal court has learned.

The recordings were among in excess of 100 phone calls between the former retail executive and Matthew Smith referred to during a multi-day mental competency hearing on Long Island on Long Island.

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

However, the prosecution contend their health professionals concluded his health has gotten better and that the recordings demonstrate he is remarkably preoccupied on being found not competent.

In further audio clips, Jeffries is heard saying he is hoping for a favorable ruling, characterizing being found fit as a calamity, and instructs a medical professional: you must find me unfit, the court was told.

Legal Hearings and Health Evidence

The conversations were taped in the past year while he was being treated for several months in a psychiatric facility at a federal prison in North Carolina to determine if he could recover his faculties.

The octogenarian had earlier been ruled not competent in May but correctional authorities then announced in December that he was competent for trial after his hospital stay.

Government attorneys advised the judge Jeffries often complained about life in jail and was heard explaining to Smith how terrible incarceration was, stating: that's why we got to succeed.

The Case

Jeffries, his partner Smith, 62, and their alleged intermediary James Jacobson, 73, were charged with running a global trafficking and prostitution operation in October 2024.

They have pleaded not guilty the accusations, 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 centre of a sophisticated network recruiting men for sex internationally while Jeffries was CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury will rule in May about whether Jeffries will be tried after reviewing the evidence of multiple specialists - psychologists, psychiatrists and brain specialists, including correctional physicians - who were cross-examined in proceedings this week.

'Disinhibited' Behaviour

Several medical witnesses for the defense, argue that Jeffries is cognitively impaired due to the lingering impact of a traumatic brain injury, probable a form of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They stated that Jeffries demonstrates disinhibited and socially inappropriate conduct, which is part of a set of dementia symptoms.

Instances are Jeffries referring to the prosecutor's professional psychologist a cunning bitch, praising her hair, telling another expert his clothing was ill-fitting, and referring to his partner Smith as a dwarf, the court heard.

He was also heard in minute detail on about 20 recorded calls talking about his travel itinerary for the near future, despite having been on house arrest since 2024.

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

Prosecutors contend this indicates his understanding that he would be released if he was declared incompetent and the case were dismissed.

However, the defense's expert witnesses disagree, saying it instead underscores that Jeffries has forgotten his court-ordered limits and the seriousness of the case.

"I didn't see the appropriate affect that I would anticipate someone to have who is up against such grave allegations," testified one doctor who evaluated Jeffries.

"Rather, his manner throughout the examination... was similar to we were having a meal at his club. There was no sense of distress."

Opposing Psychiatric Assessments

Testimony indicated there is evidence that Jeffries' cognitive deterioration started in 2013, when imaging showed reduction in volume, which was worsened by a accident in 2018.

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

Following the fall, Jeffries experienced psychosis, and began seeing things, with one event in 2019 where he was found in his underwear, unable to move, in a neighbour's garden.

Medical professionals from a treatment facility stated that Jeffries was competent after evaluating him over an extended period in the facility.

They assert his cognitive abilities were not consistent with Alzheimer's disease, which the court heard could not be definitively confirmed until an autopsy could be performed.

"Even given the deterioration that Mr Jeffries has experienced... he still is sharper and more functioning mentally than probably 95% of the patients that we evaluate for fitness," stated one doctor.

Jeffries, dressed in a formal wear in the hearing, was reported to be lighthearted and quite personable during meetings in prison, and was purposely being provocative, at times using familiar language.

They diagnosed Jeffries with slight deficits and indicated his results may have gotten better since 2023 from borderline or impaired to average because of sobriety and more consistent management of prescriptions during his stay.

109 Jail Recordings Raise Questions

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