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Ex- the fashion retailer CEO Mike Jeffries was recorded informing his associate how they are screwed and in deep trouble if he was found competent to go to trial on trafficking allegations this autumn, a New York federal court has heard.

The recordings were among more than 100 telephone conversations between the one-time CEO and Matthew Smith played during a lengthy legal competency hearing on Long Island on Long Island.

Jeffries' attorneys assert that he is coping with dementia and the onset of Alzheimer's disease and is incapable to stand trial alongside his partner and their alleged middleman in October.

In contrast, the prosecution argue their doctors found his mental state has improved and that the recordings demonstrate he is extremely fixated on being found incompetent.

In further tapes, Jeffries states he is hoping for a positive result, characterizing being ruled able as a calamity, and instructs a doctor: you better declare me unfit, the court was told.

Legal Process and Health Opinions

The calls were taped last year while he was being treated for four months in a psychiatric facility at a US prison in North Carolina to see if he could regain his faculties.

The octogenarian had earlier been ruled legally unfit last May but correctional authorities then stated in December that he was fit for proceedings subsequent to his hospital stay.

Prosecutors advised the judge Jeffries repeatedly complained about prison conditions and was recorded telling to Smith how horrible incarceration was, stating: which is why we must make this work.

Background

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

They have pleaded not guilty the charges, which have a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Their detentions were prompted by an report that revealed the trio had been at the core of a elaborate network scouting individuals for sex around the world 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 statements of six experts - experts, psychiatrists and brain specialists, including correctional physicians - who were examined in proceedings during the hearing.

'Inappropriate' Behaviour

Several defence experts, testify that Jeffries is mentally incompetent due to the lingering impact of a brain trauma, probable Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They said under oath that Jeffries exhibits unfiltered and socially inappropriate behavior, which is symptomatic of a set of dementia symptoms.

Examples involve Jeffries referring to the prosecutor's expert witness a derogatory term, complimenting her hair, informing another expert his clothing was badly made, and describing his partner Smith as a derogatory term, according to testimony.

He was also recorded in great detail on approximately 20 jail conversations discussing his international travel plans for the coming months, even though having been on restricted movement since 2024.

"I can't go on trips without you," Jeffries was overheard telling Smith from jail.

Prosecutors contend this indicates his recognition that he would regain his freedom if he was found unfit and the charges were dropped.

In contrast, the defense's expert witnesses have a different view, arguing it instead highlights that Jeffries fails to recall his court-ordered limits and the gravity of the case.

"I didn't see the appropriate reaction that I would expect someone to have who is up against such severe charges," stated one expert who evaluated Jeffries.

"On the contrary, his manner during the evaluation... was as if we were having lunch at his country club. There was no indication of alarm."

Conflicting Neurological Assessments

Reports indicated there is information that Jeffries' cognitive deterioration began in 2013, when scans showed brain shrinkage, which was accelerated by a fall in 2018.

Jeffries had been intoxicated at the moment of the 2018 incident and his medical records showed he continued drinking subsequent to being hospitalised, but an expert told the judge he did not think his general drinking had a decisive influence on his health.

Following the fall, Jeffries experienced psychosis, and began seeing things, with one episode in 2019 where he was found in his underclothes, incapacitated, in a neighbour's garden.

Experts from a treatment facility stated that Jeffries was able after evaluating him over an extended period in the facility.

They assert his intellectual functioning did not match Alzheimer's disease, which the court heard could not be absolutely determined until an post-mortem could be performed.

"Even given the declines that Mr Jeffries has experienced... he still is more capable and more functioning intellectually than probably 95% of the patients that we test for fitness," testified one doctor.

Jeffries, dressed in a business attire in the courtroom, was reported to be jovial and fairly personable during meetings in prison, and was purposely being provocative, at times using disrespectful language.

They assessed Jeffries with minor cognitive impairments and said his results may have improved since 2023 from borderline or deficient to normal because of sobriety and more consistent management of prescriptions during his evaluation.

109 Recorded Conversations Prompt Concerns

Central to assessing fitness is whether Jeffries understands the allegations against him, their penalties, the {legal proceedings|court process|trial