Hearing on whether ex-Abercrombie & Fitch CEO is mentally fit to stand trial for sex trafficking set

NEW YORK — The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch faces a March court hearing to determine whether he’s competent to stand trial on sex trafficking charges after being hospitalized in recent months for dementia and Alzheimer’s symptoms.

If he’s found mentally fit, Michael Jeffries could have his day in court by late October, U.S. District Court Judge Nusrat Choudhury said Thursday.

“We are aiming for a trial this fall,” she said on a phone conference that included Jeffries, two other defendants in the case and their lawyers.

Jeffries pleaded not guilty last year to federal charges of sex trafficking and interstate prostitution that echoed sexual misconduct accusations made in a civil case and in the media in recent years.

Prosecutors say Jeffries, his romantic partner and a third man used the promise of modeling jobs to lure men to drug-fueled sex parties in New York City, the Hamptons and other locations.

Federal prison officials said in a letter to the court filed Wednesday that Jeffries is mentally fit after spending about four months at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina.

The 81-year-old is “able to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him and to assist properly in his own defense,” the prison's acting warden wrote in a document titled a “Certificate of Restoration of Competency.”

But Jeffries’ lawyers on Thursday disputed the assessment and requested Choudhury hold a hearing to hear from other medical experts.

Brian Bieber, an attorney for Jeffries, said defense lawyers expect to call at least three experts to testify on his mental condition. Prosecutors said they expect to call two of their own.

Defense lawyers have previously said Jeffries requires around-the-clock care as he’s dealing with Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia and a traumatic brain injury.

At least four medical professionals concluded that Jeffries’ cognitive issues were “progressive and incurable” and that he would not “regain his competency and cannot be restored to competency in the future,” the lawyers previously wrote to the court.

Bieber didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday. He previously said he and his client “look forward to the Judge hearing the medical evidence, and deciding on the appropriate course of action moving forward.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York declined to comment.

Jeffries left Abercrombie in 2014 after more than two decades at the helm. His partner, Matthew Smith, has also been charged and has pleaded not guilty, as has their co-defendant, James Jacobson.