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Former the fashion retailer CEO Mike Jeffries was taped saying to his UK-based partner how they were finished and in deep trouble if he was found fit to face trial on human trafficking charges in the coming months, a US district court has heard.

The recordings were included in more than 100 phone calls between the one-time CEO and Matthew Smith referred to during a multi-day fitness to stand trial proceeding on Long Island on Long Island.

Jeffries' legal team argue that he is coping with cognitive decline and late onset of Alzheimer's disease and is not competent to stand trial alongside his partner and their alleged facilitator in October.

Nevertheless, the prosecution argue their doctors determined his mental state has improved and that the recordings reveal he is extremely focused on being ruled not competent.

In other audio clips, Jeffries is heard saying he is wishing for a good outcome, labeling being deemed competent as a catastrophe, and instructs a physician: you must find me unfit, the court heard.

Court Hearings and Medical Evidence

The calls were recorded the previous year while he was being held for several months in a psychiatric facility at a US prison in North Carolina to assess if he could restore his faculties.

The elderly defendant had earlier been ruled not competent previously but facility staff then declared in December that he was able for trial subsequent to his treatment period.

Prosecutors informed the judge Jeffries frequently complained about life in jail and was heard explaining to Smith how terrible prison was, remarking: which is why we must pull this off.

Context

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

They have pleaded not guilty the charges, which could result in a maximum sentence of a life term.

Their detentions came after an report that uncovered the three had been at the core of a sophisticated operation scouting young men for sex internationally while Jeffries was the head of Abercrombie & Fitch.

The Honorable Nusrat J. Choudhury will rule in May about whether Jeffries will stand trial after considering the testimony of multiple specialists - psychologists, specialists and brain specialists, including facility doctors - who were examined in the courtroom this week.

'Disinhibited' Behavior

Several medical witnesses for the defense, testify that Jeffries is mentally incompetent due to the residual effects of a brain trauma, likely dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They stated that Jeffries shows disinhibited and off-color conduct, which is consistent with a spectrum of symptoms.

Instances include Jeffries referring to the prosecutor's professional psychologist a insult, remarking on 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 excruciating detail on about 20 jail conversations planning his travel itinerary for the near future, notwithstanding having been on house arrest since 2024.

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

Prosecutors argue this shows his recognition that he would go free if he was ruled incompetent and the case were dropped.

However, the defense's witnesses disagree, stating it instead highlights that Jeffries fails to recall his court-ordered limits and the severity of the case.

"He lacked the normal affect that I would expect someone to have who is confronting such grave allegations," said one forensic psychiatrist who reviewed Jeffries.

"Rather, his demeanor during the evaluation... was as if we were having lunch at his home. There was no indication of distress."

Opposing Psychiatric Opinions

Evidence indicated there is data that Jeffries' cognitive deterioration began in 2013, when tests showed reduction in volume, which was exacerbated by a accident in 2018.

Jeffries had been drinking alcohol at the moment of the 2018 incident and his medical records showed he kept on drinking after being treated, but an expert told the judge he did not think his overall intake had a significant effect on his health.

Following the fall, Jeffries became psychotic, and began seeing things, with one event in 2019 where he was discovered in his underclothes, unable to move, in a neighbor's yard.

Doctors from a prison hospital said that Jeffries was able after assessing him over four months in the facility.

They say his intellectual functioning were not consistent with Alzheimer's disease, which the court heard could not be absolutely determined until an examination could be performed.

"Even given the reduction that Mr Jeffries has undergone... he still is brighter and more able mentally than probably 95% of the patients that we assess for fitness," said one doctor.

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

They assessed Jeffries with mild neurocognitive deficits and suggested his results may have risen since 2023 from low or impaired to average because of sobriety and improved treatment during his evaluation.

109 Jail Recordings Prompt Issues

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