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Former the fashion retailer chief executive Mike Jeffries was heard on tape telling his associate how they'd be in serious trouble and in deep trouble if he was deemed able to go to trial on trafficking allegations in the coming months, a US district court has been told.

The audio were part of in excess of 100 recorded calls between the former retail executive and Matthew Smith played during a lengthy mental competency session recently on Long Island.

Jeffries' lawyers argue that he is coping with dementia and the onset of the disease and is unfit to be tried next to his partner and their alleged middleman in October.

However, the prosecution argue their doctors concluded his health has stabilized and that the recordings show he is incredibly preoccupied on being found not competent.

In additional audio clips, Jeffries says he is wishing for a positive result, describing being found fit as a catastrophe, and says to a medical professional: you better declare me unfit, the court learned.

Legal Hearings and Health Opinions

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

The octogenarian had in the past been deemed legally unfit previously but prison officials then stated in December that he was competent for proceedings subsequent to his evaluation.

The prosecution advised the court Jeffries frequently complained about life in jail and was heard describing to Smith how horrible jail was, stating: which is why we must succeed.

Background

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

They have entered not guilty pleas the accusations, which have a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Their being taken into custody came after an exposé that showed the three had been at the core of a sophisticated network recruiting men for sex around the world while Jeffries was CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury will make a determination in May about whether Jeffries will face trial after reviewing the statements of six experts - psychologists, specialists and medical experts, including correctional physicians - who were questioned in the courtroom during the hearing.

'Unrestrained' Behaviour

Several medical witnesses for the defense, maintain that Jeffries is mentally incompetent due to the after-effects of a head injury, likely Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They stated that Jeffries exhibits unfiltered and improper behavior, which is consistent with a range of dementia symptoms.

Reported incidents are Jeffries calling the prosecutor's expert witness a derogatory term, praising her hair, telling another expert his clothing was poorly tailored, and referring to his partner Smith as a derogatory term, they say.

He was also taped in great detail on about 20 jail conversations planning his international travel plans for the coming months, even though having been on house arrest since 2024.

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

Prosecutors suggest this indicates his recognition that he would regain his freedom if he was declared incompetent and the case were dropped.

In contrast, the defence's medical experts have a different view, saying it instead highlights that Jeffries fails to recall his conditions and the gravity of the situation.

"I didn't see the appropriate reaction that I would expect someone to have who is facing such grave allegations," stated one doctor who assessed Jeffries.

"Instead, his demeanor throughout the assessment... was almost like we were having lunch at his club. There was no indication of distress."

Diverging Psychiatric Opinions

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

Jeffries had been drinking alcohol at the moment of the 2018 incident and his records showed he persisted in drinking subsequent to being hospitalized, but an expert told the judge he did not think his typical alcohol consumption had a significant effect on his health.

In the wake of the fall, Jeffries experienced psychosis, and started hallucinating, with one incident in 2019 where he was discovered in his underwear, incapacitated, in a neighbour's garden.

Doctors from a Federal Medical Center stated that Jeffries was able after evaluating him over several months in prison.

They say his mental faculties 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 declines that Mr Jeffries has experienced... he still is sharper and more functioning intellectually than probably 95% of the patients that we test for competency," testified one neuropsychologist.

Jeffries, dressed in a business attire in the courtroom, was described as lighthearted and quite personable during interactions in the facility, and was intentionally testing the limits, at times using informal language.

They assessed Jeffries with slight deficits and indicated his testing scores may have gotten better since 2023 from borderline or deficient to normal because of stopping drinking and more consistent management of prescriptions during his evaluation.

109 Recorded Conversations Present Questions

Central to establishing fitness is whether Jeffries comprehends the allegations against him, their implications, the {legal proceedings|court process|trial