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One-time the fashion retailer top executive Mike Jeffries was recorded saying to his associate how they'd be in serious trouble and in big trouble if he was declared able to go to trial on sex trafficking charges later this year, a US district court has been told.

The taped conversations were part of more than 100 phone calls between the one-time CEO and Matthew Smith referred to during a lengthy legal competency session on Long Island on Long Island.

Jeffries' lawyers assert that he is battling cognitive decline and the onset of the disease and is not competent to be tried next to his partner and their purported intermediary in October.

However, the prosecution argue their doctors determined his health has stabilized and that the conversations show he is incredibly fixated on being ruled incompetent.

In other audio clips, Jeffries is heard saying he is praying for a positive result, characterizing being ruled able as a disaster, and instructs a medical professional: you must find me unfit, the Central Islip court heard.

Judicial Process and Psychiatric Testimony

The calls were taped the previous year while he was being held for several months in a mental health unit at a federal prison in North Carolina to see if he could recover fitness.

The octogenarian had previously been found mentally incompetent previously but prison officials then stated in December that he was able for proceedings following his treatment period.

Government attorneys told the judge Jeffries often protested life in jail and was heard explaining to Smith how terrible incarceration was, stating: that's why we must pull this off.

Background

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

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

Their detentions were prompted by an report that revealed the trio had been at the heart of a sophisticated network sourcing men for sex around the world while Jeffries was the head of Abercrombie & Fitch.

The Honorable Nusrat J. Choudhury will rule in May about whether Jeffries will stand trial after weighing the statements of multiple specialists - forensic psychologists, doctors and neurologists, including prison doctors - who were examined in the courtroom recently.

'Disinhibited' Behavior

Several defense witnesses, testify that Jeffries is cognitively impaired due to the after-effects of a traumatic brain injury, likely a form of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They said under oath that Jeffries demonstrates socially inappropriate and improper conduct, which is part of a spectrum of cognitive symptoms.

Reported incidents are Jeffries calling the prosecutor's professional psychologist a insult, remarking on her hair, telling another expert his clothing was badly made, and describing his partner Smith as a derogatory term, according to testimony.

He was also heard in excruciating detail on around 20 jail conversations planning his international travel plans for the next few months, even though having been on restricted movement since 2024.

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

The prosecution argue this shows his understanding that he would go free if he was declared unfit and the charges were dismissed.

However, the defence's expert witnesses have a different view, stating it instead highlights that Jeffries has forgotten his legal restrictions and the seriousness of the case.

"He lacked the expected affect that I would expect someone to have who is facing such severe charges," stated one forensic psychiatrist who assessed Jeffries.

"On the contrary, his demeanor during the examination... was as if we were having lunch at his home. There was no indication of anxiety."

Conflicting Medical Opinions

Testimony indicated there is data that Jeffries' mental decline started in 2013, when scans showed mild atrophy, which was exacerbated by a incident in 2018.

Jeffries had been drinking alcohol at the moment of the 2018 incident and his medical records 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 state.

After the fall, Jeffries became psychotic, and began hallucinating, with one incident in 2019 where he was found in his underwear, incapacitated, in a neighbor's yard.

Doctors from a treatment facility said that Jeffries was competent after observing him over an extended period in prison.

They assert his intellectual functioning did not align with Alzheimer's disease, which the court heard could not be definitively confirmed until an autopsy could be performed.

"Even given the reduction that Mr Jeffries has suffered... he still is brighter and more able cognitively than probably 95% of the inmates that we evaluate for fitness," said one neuropsychologist.

Jeffries, wearing a formal wear in the hearing, was described as cheerful and fairly engaging during evaluations in prison, and was intentionally being provocative, at times using informal language.

They found Jeffries with minor cognitive impairments and said his performance on tests may have improved since 2023 from low or deficient to average because of abstinence from alcohol and improved management of prescriptions during his stay.

109 Recorded Conversations Present Concerns

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