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Former the fashion retailer chief executive Mike Jeffries was heard on tape saying to his British partner that they'd be finished and in big trouble if he was found able to go to trial on human trafficking charges later this year, a New York federal court has learned.

The recordings were among over 100 recorded calls between the ex-fashion boss and Matthew Smith cited during a four-day fitness to stand trial hearing recently on Long Island.

Jeffries' attorneys argue that he is battling dementia and the onset of Alzheimer's and is unfit to stand trial next to his partner and their alleged middleman in October.

Nevertheless, the prosecution say their medical experts found his mental state has improved and that the recordings reveal he is incredibly focused on being ruled unfit.

In other recordings, Jeffries states he is wishing for a good outcome, describing being deemed competent as a calamity, and says to a doctor: you must rule me unfit, the judge heard.

Legal Hearings and Psychiatric Evidence

The calls were recorded the previous year while he was being held for several months in a mental health unit at a federal prison in North Carolina to assess if he could regain his faculties.

The octogenarian had previously been found not competent last May but correctional authorities then declared in December that he was able for trial following his treatment period.

The prosecution informed the judge Jeffries often griped about incarceration and was recorded telling to Smith how terrible incarceration was, remarking: that's why we have to pull this off.

Background

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

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

Their arrests followed an report that uncovered the group had been at the centre of a sophisticated network recruiting individuals 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 face trial after reviewing the testimony of six experts - psychologists, specialists and neurologists, including facility doctors - who were questioned in the courtroom during the hearing.

'Inappropriate' Behaviour

Three defence experts, testify that Jeffries is legally unfit due to the lingering impact of a brain trauma, likely a form of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They testified that Jeffries exhibits socially inappropriate and socially inappropriate conduct, which is part of a spectrum of symptoms.

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

He was also recorded in excruciating detail on about 20 prison calls discussing his trips abroad for the near future, notwithstanding having been on home confinement since 2024.

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

The prosecution argue this shows his awareness that he would go free if he was ruled unfit and the charges were dropped.

Conversely, the defence's witnesses have a different view, saying it instead underscores that Jeffries has forgotten his conditions and the severity of the situation.

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

"On the contrary, his manner during the evaluation... was almost like we were having a chat at his club. There was no sense of alarm."

Opposing Medical Diagnoses

Reports indicated there is information that Jeffries' mental decline commenced in 2013, when imaging showed brain shrinkage, which was exacerbated by a accident in 2018.

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

Following the fall, Jeffries became psychotic, and began having visions, with one incident in 2019 where he was located in his underwear, immobile, in a neighbor's yard.

Experts from a treatment facility said that Jeffries was able after assessing him over an extended period in custody.

They say 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 declines that Mr Jeffries has suffered... he still is brighter and more capable intellectually than probably 95% of the patients that we test for competency," testified one neuropsychologist.

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

They diagnosed Jeffries with minor cognitive impairments and suggested his performance on tests may have gotten better since 2023 from borderline or deficient to normal because of abstinence from alcohol and improved management of prescriptions during his evaluation.

109 Jail Recordings Prompt Questions

Key to establishing competency is whether Jeffries comprehends the allegations against him, their penalties, the {legal proceedings|court process|trial