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Ex- A&F CEO Mike Jeffries was taped telling his UK-based partner how they were finished and in grave danger if he was declared competent to go to trial on human trafficking accusations later this year, a New York federal 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 four-day legal competency session on Long Island on Long Island.

Jeffries' legal team assert that he is suffering with cognitive decline and late onset of Alzheimer's disease and is unfit to face trial alongside his partner and their accused middleman in October.

Nevertheless, government lawyers argue their medical experts determined his condition has gotten better and that the recordings show he is remarkably fixated on being declared incompetent.

In other tapes, Jeffries says he is wishing for a good outcome, describing being found fit as a catastrophe, and instructs a medical professional: you must rule me unfit, the Central Islip court learned.

Judicial Proceedings and Health Evidence

The calls were taped in the past year while he was being held for a period of months in a treatment center at a federal prison in North Carolina to assess if he could recover fitness.

The elderly defendant had previously been found not competent last May but prison officials then declared in December that he was able for proceedings following his hospital stay.

Prosecutors told the judge Jeffries repeatedly complained about incarceration and was recorded telling to Smith how awful prison was, adding: which is why we must pull this off.

The Case

Jeffries, his partner Smith, 62, and their purported middleman James Jacobson, 73, were charged with operating a worldwide human trafficking and commercial sex enterprise in October 2024.

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

Their detentions followed an exposé that revealed the trio had been at the centre of a elaborate scheme sourcing young men for sex globally while Jeffries was CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Presiding Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury will make a determination in May about whether Jeffries will face trial after considering the evidence of several professionals - experts, psychiatrists and brain specialists, including facility doctors - who were cross-examined in the courtroom this week.

'Unrestrained' Behavior

Several defense witnesses, maintain that Jeffries is legally unfit due to the residual effects of a traumatic brain injury, likely dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They stated that Jeffries demonstrates unfiltered and socially inappropriate conduct, which is consistent with a set of dementia symptoms.

Instances include Jeffries calling the prosecution's professional psychologist a cunning bitch, complimenting her hair, telling another expert his clothing was ill-fitting, and referring to his partner Smith as a midget, they say.

He was also taped in great detail on about 20 recorded calls discussing his travel itinerary for the near future, despite having been on restricted movement since 2024.

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

The prosecution argue this shows his recognition that he would be released if he was declared incompetent and the indictment were dropped.

Conversely, the defense's medical experts counter, arguing it instead points to that Jeffries does not remember his legal restrictions and the gravity of the situation.

"He lacked the appropriate emotional response that I would expect someone to have who is confronting such serious charges," said one expert who reviewed Jeffries.

"On the contrary, his behavior throughout the evaluation... was almost like we were having lunch at his home. There was no indication of alarm."

Diverging Psychiatric Diagnoses

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

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

Following the fall, Jeffries became psychotic, and started hallucinating, with one event in 2019 where he was discovered in his underclothes, immobile, in a nearby property.

Medical professionals from a treatment facility said that Jeffries was fit after observing him over four months in custody.

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

"Even given the reduction that Mr Jeffries has suffered... he still is brighter and more capable intellectually than probably 95% of the inmates that we test for competency," testified one doctor.

Jeffries, dressed in a formal wear in the court, was reported to be jovial and quite charismatic during evaluations in the facility, and was intentionally pushing boundaries, sometimes using informal address.

They diagnosed Jeffries with mild neurocognitive deficits and suggested his performance on tests may have risen since 2023 from borderline or impaired to typical because of stopping drinking and better treatment during his confinement.

109 Jail Recordings Prompt Questions

Central to assessing competency is whether Jeffries grasps the allegations against him, their consequences, the {legal proceedings|court process|trial