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Former the fashion retailer chief executive Mike Jeffries was recorded telling his UK-based partner how they were finished and in big trouble if he was declared able to face trial on sex trafficking allegations later this year, a US district court has heard.

The recordings were included in more than 100 telephone conversations between the former retail executive and Matthew Smith played during a lengthy legal competency proceeding recently on Long Island.

Jeffries' legal team assert that he is suffering with dementia and late onset of the disease and is incapable to face trial next to his partner and their accused intermediary in October.

Nevertheless, the prosecution contend their medical experts found his health has improved and that the conversations show he is extremely focused on being found unfit.

In additional audio clips, Jeffries states he is praying for a good outcome, labeling being ruled able as a calamity, and says to a medical professional: you must find me incompetent, the Central Islip court heard.

Judicial Process and Medical Evidence

The conversations were taped the previous year while he was being evaluated for four months in a treatment center at a correctional institution in North Carolina to assess if he could restore his faculties.

The elderly defendant had in the past been deemed mentally incompetent previously but facility staff then stated in December that he was able for proceedings following his evaluation.

Government attorneys advised the court Jeffries frequently complained about prison conditions and was caught on tape describing to Smith how awful jail was, remarking: so we have to pull this off.

Background

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

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

Their being taken into custody were prompted by an report that uncovered the three had been at the core of a sophisticated scheme recruiting men for sex globally while Jeffries was the head of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Presiding Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury will decide in May about whether Jeffries will face trial after weighing the evidence of multiple specialists - forensic psychologists, specialists and brain specialists, including facility doctors - who were questioned in court during the hearing.

'Unrestrained' Behaviour

Three medical witnesses for the defense, testify that Jeffries is legally unfit due to the lingering impact of a head injury, probable dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They stated that Jeffries demonstrates socially inappropriate and off-color conduct, which is symptomatic of a spectrum of dementia symptoms.

Reported incidents involve Jeffries referring to the prosecutor's professional psychologist a cunning bitch, remarking on her hair, telling another expert his clothing was ill-fitting, and referring to his partner Smith as a derogatory term, they say.

He was also recorded in minute detail on about 20 prison calls talking about his international travel plans for the near future, even though having been on home confinement since 2024.

"I wouldn't want to go on trips without you," Jeffries was overheard telling Smith from incarceration.

Prosecutors contend this indicates his recognition that he would be released if he was declared incompetent and the indictment were dismissed.

However, the defence's witnesses have a different view, saying it instead highlights that Jeffries has forgotten his conditions and the severity of the case.

"There wasn't the normal affect that I would expect someone to have who is up against such severe charges," said one expert who assessed Jeffries.

"Rather, his manner throughout the examination... was as if we were having a meal at his country club. There was no indication of anxiety."

Diverging Neurological Opinions

Reports indicated there is evidence that Jeffries' decline started in 2013, when scans showed brain shrinkage, which was worsened by a fall in 2018.

Jeffries had been consuming 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 intake had a significant effect on his state.

Following the fall, Jeffries became psychotic, and started seeing things, with one episode in 2019 where he was discovered in his underwear, incapacitated, in a neighbor's yard.

Doctors from a treatment facility stated that Jeffries was able after observing him over an extended period in custody.

They assert his mental faculties did not align with Alzheimer's disease, which the court heard could not be absolutely determined 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 inmates that we evaluate for fitness," said one doctor.

Jeffries, dressed in a suit and tie in the court, was described as jovial and quite personable during meetings in the facility, and was deliberately testing the limits, at times using familiar address.

They assessed Jeffries with minor cognitive impairments and indicated his results may have improved since 2023 from borderline or deficient to normal because of sobriety and improved management of prescriptions during his stay.

109 Prison Calls Raise Issues

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