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Ex- A&F chief executive Mike Jeffries was heard on tape saying to his associate how they'd be in serious trouble and in big trouble if he was declared able to face trial on trafficking allegations this autumn, a New York federal court has heard.

The recordings were included in in excess of 100 recorded calls between the ex-fashion boss and Matthew Smith played during a multi-day fitness to stand trial proceeding this week on Long Island.

Jeffries' lawyers argue that he is battling dementia and the onset of the disease and is unfit to be tried alongside his partner and their purported middleman in October.

In contrast, prosecutors say their medical experts found his health has improved and that the recordings demonstrate he is extremely focused on being ruled incompetent.

In additional audio clips, Jeffries says he is praying for a good outcome, describing being ruled able as a disaster, and tells a doctor: you better rule me incompetent, the court heard.

Judicial Process and Psychiatric Opinions

The recordings were taped last year while he was being held for a period of months in a mental health unit at a federal prison in North Carolina to assess if he could restore fitness.

The 81-year-old had earlier been ruled not competent last May but prison officials then announced in December that he was able for trial following his hospital stay.

The prosecution told the court Jeffries repeatedly protested incarceration and was recorded explaining to Smith how awful jail was, stating: that's why we have to succeed.

The Case

Jeffries, his partner Smith, 62, and their accused middleman James Jacobson, 73, were charged with running a international human trafficking and prostitution business in October 2024.

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

Their arrests came after an report that showed the trio had been at the core of a sophisticated scheme sourcing men for sex internationally while Jeffries was the head of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Presiding Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury will rule in May about whether Jeffries will be tried after weighing the testimony of multiple specialists - experts, doctors and neurologists, including prison doctors - who were cross-examined in court this week.

'Inappropriate' Behavior

A trio of defense witnesses, testify that Jeffries is cognitively impaired due to the residual effects of a traumatic brain injury, suspected dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

They stated that Jeffries exhibits socially inappropriate and socially inappropriate behaviour, which is part of a range of cognitive symptoms.

Examples are Jeffries calling the prosecution's professional psychologist a derogatory term, praising her hair, telling another expert his clothing was ill-fitting, and describing his partner Smith as a derogatory term, they say.

He was also taped in excruciating detail on around 20 jail conversations discussing his trips abroad for the next few months, despite having been on house arrest since 2024.

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

Prosecutors argue this indicates his awareness that he would regain his freedom if he was found incompetent and the case were dismissed.

Conversely, the defense's witnesses have a different view, saying it instead highlights that Jeffries does not remember his court-ordered limits and the gravity of the situation.

"There wasn't the appropriate reaction that I would expect someone to have who is up against such grave allegations," said one forensic psychiatrist who assessed Jeffries.

"Instead, his manner during the evaluation... was as if we were having a meal at his home. There was no indication of alarm."

Diverging Medical Diagnoses

Evidence indicated there is data that Jeffries' decline started in 2013, when tests showed reduction in volume, which was worsened by a fall in 2018.

Jeffries had been intoxicated at the moment of the 2018 fall and his medical records showed he kept on drinking after being hospitalized, but an expert told the judge he did not think his general drinking had a significant effect on his condition.

In the wake of the fall, Jeffries became psychotic, and began hallucinating, with one episode in 2019 where he was located in his underclothes, immobile, in a neighbor's yard.

Experts from a prison hospital testified that Jeffries was fit after assessing him over four months in the facility.

They assert his cognitive abilities did not match Alzheimer's disease, which the court heard could not be conclusively diagnosed until an post-mortem could be performed.

"Even given the deterioration that Mr Jeffries has undergone... he still is brighter and more capable cognitively than probably 95% of the inmates that we evaluate for competency," said one doctor.

Jeffries, wearing a business attire in the courtroom, was described as jovial and quite personable during interactions in the facility, and was deliberately pushing boundaries, on occasion using familiar terms.

They assessed Jeffries with mild neurocognitive deficits and indicated his results may have improved since 2023 from borderline or deficient to typical because of abstinence from alcohol and improved management of prescriptions during his confinement.

109 Jail Recordings Raise Issues

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