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One-time the fashion retailer CEO Mike Jeffries was taped saying to his UK-based partner how they are finished and in deep trouble if he was deemed fit to stand trial on trafficking allegations later this year, a US district court has learned.

The taped conversations were among in excess of 100 phone calls between the former retail executive and Matthew Smith played during a four-day mental competency proceeding on Long Island on Long Island.

Jeffries' attorneys assert that he is battling cognitive decline and the onset of Alzheimer's and is unfit to face trial next to his partner and their accused intermediary in October.

In contrast, government lawyers say their health professionals concluded his mental state has improved and that the calls show he is extremely fixated on being ruled incompetent.

In further audio clips, Jeffries says he is praying for a good outcome, characterizing being deemed competent as a catastrophe, and tells a doctor: you better rule me incompetent, the Central Islip court learned.

Legal Proceedings and Psychiatric Evidence

The conversations were taped last year while he was being evaluated for a period of months in a mental health unit at a federal prison in North Carolina to see if he could regain his faculties.

The octogenarian had in the past been deemed mentally incompetent previously but facility staff then announced in December that he was fit for trial subsequent to his treatment period.

Government attorneys told the court Jeffries frequently protested incarceration and was caught on tape telling to Smith how awful incarceration was, stating: which is why we got to make this work.

The Case

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

They have entered not guilty pleas the accusations, which could result in a potential penalty of a life term.

Their being taken into custody came after an exposé that showed the group had been at the core of a sophisticated network recruiting men for sex internationally while Jeffries was chief executive of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury will decide in May about whether Jeffries will face trial after considering the testimony of six experts - psychologists, psychiatrists and neurologists, including facility doctors - who were questioned in court this week.

'Disinhibited' Behaviour

Three defense witnesses, maintain that Jeffries is cognitively impaired due to the residual effects of a head injury, likely dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They stated that Jeffries exhibits unfiltered and improper conduct, which is part of a set of cognitive symptoms.

Instances involve Jeffries calling the prosecutor's professional psychologist a insult, remarking on her hair, informing another expert his clothing was badly made, and referring to his partner Smith as a midget, according to testimony.

He was also heard in minute detail on around 20 jail conversations talking about 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 recorded saying to Smith from jail.

Prosecutors suggest this indicates his awareness that he would go free if he was ruled unfit and the charges were dismissed.

In contrast, the defense's witnesses counter, saying it instead underscores that Jeffries does not remember his legal restrictions and the seriousness of the charges.

"There wasn't the appropriate emotional response that I would anticipate someone to have who is facing such severe charges," testified one forensic psychiatrist who assessed Jeffries.

"Instead, his demeanor throughout the assessment... was similar to we were having lunch at his home. There was no sign of alarm."

Diverging Medical Assessments

Testimony indicated there is data that Jeffries' decline began in 2013, when tests showed brain shrinkage, which was worsened by a accident in 2018.

Jeffries had been intoxicated at the time of the 2018 incident and his medical records showed he persisted in drinking after being hospitalized, but an expert told the judge he did not think his general intake had a significant effect on his state.

Following the fall, Jeffries experienced psychosis, and began having visions, with one episode in 2019 where he was discovered in his underclothes, unable to move, in a neighbour's garden.

Doctors from a treatment facility stated that Jeffries was competent after assessing him over several months in prison.

They contend his intellectual functioning 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 declines that Mr Jeffries has experienced... he still is more capable and more capable mentally than probably 95% of the individuals that we evaluate for fitness," testified one doctor.

Jeffries, dressed in a suit and tie in the court, was reported to be jovial and rather engaging during evaluations in prison, and was deliberately testing the limits, at times using informal address.

They diagnosed Jeffries with minor cognitive impairments and suggested his performance on tests may have gotten better since 2023 from low or impaired to typical because of stopping drinking and better management of prescriptions during his stay.

109 Jail Recordings Prompt Issues

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