Ex-CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch was recorded on prison tape saying doctors ‘better find me incompetent’

• Lawyers for Michael Jeffries say he is incompetent ahead of his sex trafficking trial in October.

• The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch was seriously ill, a defense expert said at a hearing Tuesday.

• He also mentioned a prison tape in which Jeffries said doctors “better find me incompetent.”

Former Michael Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch He was recorded on prison tape last year saying doctors “better find me incompetent,” a defense psychologist testified Tuesday.

The testimony came as Jeffries sat in a federal courtroom in Central Islip, New York, for the start of his three-day mental competency hearing.

81-year-old Jeffries fights sex trafficking accusations Alleging that he used his wealth and power to abuse dozens of people while running the international retail giant male model candidates.

His lawyers hope to prove he is mentally incompetent She will be tried alongside two co-defendants – her longtime romantic partner Matthew Smith and a third man they worked for. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on October 26.

Federal prosecutors argue Jeffries is competent. It’s a conclusion they say is supported by their own doctors and more than 100 phone calls Jeffries had with Smith.

The calls were recorded last year, while the former CEO spent four months in the mental health unit of a federal prison in North Carolina.

Defense attorney Brian H. Bieber brought up a potentially damaging tape early in Tuesday’s hearing. He asked the first defense expert if there was tape showing Jeffries was “hoping for a good outcome.”

The witness, clinical neuro-psychologist Jacqueline C. Valdes, said yes, citing a recorded conversation in which Jeffries said, “You better find me incompetent,” referring to mental health examiners at the prison.

“He was just saying unfiltered things,” Valdes said, addressing U.S. District Court Judge Nusrat Choudhury. “This is another example of the uninhibited behavior that I mentioned earlier,” Valdes told the judge.

Other examples include Jeffries using “words like bitch” in conversations with prison mental health workers, Valdes said. “It’s been said over and over again that it’s a little too personal,” he told the judge.

“This happened to me too,” he added during his investigations into Jeffries earlier this year. “He was sometimes playful and sometimes too personal in his interactions with me.”

Defense attorneys argued that Jeffries had a decade-long history of severe cognitive impairment due to progressive Alzheimer’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, a progressive neurodegenerative condition.

The defense argued that Jeffries’ erratic behavior was symptomatic of his illness and could have led him to make self-incriminating statements in front of the judge or potential jurors.

On Tuesday, Valdes said Jeffries’ inappropriate behavior was part of a series of symptoms of dementia made worse by the lingering effects of a fall during a trip to South Africa in 2018, four years after his retirement.

Even before his indictment in October 2024, Jeffries was prone to hallucinations, wanderings, delusional thinking, and “acting out dreams”; He said that these symptoms were alleviated to some extent with medication.

Valdes said Smith said in a 2023 interview that Jeffries “was found sitting in a neighbor’s yard in her underwear and unable to move.”

Jeffries, now free on $10 million bail, sat quietly at the defense table, his mouth set in a frown, throughout Tuesday’s testimony. He turned his head to look at the person speaking and clasped his hands in front of him or played with his pen.

Valdes told the judge that talking to others was Jeffries’ strong suit, again citing prison records.

“He can talk,” he testified. “Language abilities are actually his strongest ability.”

But he said scans showed evidence of brain atrophy and other signs of dementia, and tests showed extremely poor memory and cognitive ability.

Last year, she said she looked confused when asked to count as many fruits and vegetables as she could, describing her answer as “in the bottom 3% for her age”. He said his recall of a list of 16 words was less than 1% for his age.

Federal prosecutors countered that in December — after Butner was released after four months of examination and treatment — their own doctors found that Jeffries was able to understand the accusations and assist in his defense, criteria for his competency to stand trial.

They plan to call three of their own psychiatric experts to testify during the trial and play portions of last year’s jailhouse tape in court.

Jeffries, Smith and employee James T. Jacobson entered pleas I am not guilty of sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges. If convicted, they face a minimum sentence of 15 years to life in prison.

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