Following a months-long hospitalization and evaluation, U.S. Bureau of Prison officials have deemed that former Abercrombie & Fitch chief executive officer Mike Jeffries is mentally fit to stand trial on sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges.
In May, the former corporate leader’s lawyers said that Jeffries was unfit to stand trial, due to signs of Alzheimer’s disease. In 2024, Jeffries was accused of operating an international sex operation that involved using his power and phony modeling opportunities to take advantage of dozens of men at various locations, including luxury hotels. Facing one charge of sex trafficking and 15 counts of interstate prostitution, he plead not guilty last year.
Jeffries’ partner Matthew Smith and James Jacobson, who was said to have been a middleman in the operation, were also arrested and plead not guilty last year. Prosecutors and lawyers for all three men are scheduled to have a status hearing Thursday morning in the U.S. federal court in Central Islip, N.Y.
On Wednesday, a Certificate of Restoration of Competency to Stand Trial was issued by B. Lott, an acting warden in the Bureau of Prisons, and sent to Justice Nusrat J. Choudhury, who is overseeing the case against Jeffries, Smith and Jacobson. Jeffries was hospitalized for treatment in an effort to restore competency to stand trial at FMC Butner, a federal facility in eastern North Carolina. Lott wrote in his letter to the judge that Jeffries could be returned to his district by the U.S. Marshal Service, “if appropriate.”
Jeffries is “able to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against humans to assist properly in his defense,” according to the report filed by prison officials.
Some of the alleged incidents were said to have happened during his tenure at Abercrombie & Fitch, which was from 1992 to 2014.
Asked about prison officials’ evaluation of Jeffries, an attorney representing several of Jeffries’ accusers, Brad Edwards, founding partner of Edwards Henderson, said Thursday, “Our clients are not surprised at all, and we all look forward to Mike Jeffries and his co-defendants being held accountable for these horrific charges in court.”
Brian Bieber, a lawyer, who is representing Jeffries, said Thursday morning, “The government and Mr. Jeffries’ doctors found him incompetent to proceed. A doctor for the Bureau of Prisons found a different opinion. We look forward to the judge hearing the medical evidence, and deciding on the appropriate course of action.”
