A U.S. federal court has ruled that former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries is mentally competent to stand trial on sex trafficking charges. This was reported by infohub.kz.
According to a Thursday decision by U.S. District Judge Nusrat Choudhury in New York, the 82-year-old Jeffries "clearly possesses a rational and factual understanding of the proceedings" and is a "reasonably intelligent person and skilled communicator." This conclusion was made after his stay at the federal prison hospital in Butner, North Carolina.
Judge Choudhury said she reviewed testimony and written reports from medical experts and listened to phone calls Jeffries made while in custody. "His presentation and responses in evaluations following his commitment to Butner and his phone calls show that he understands the structure of the criminal legal system, courtroom procedures, the functions of the various participants, the nature and purpose of the proceedings, and key legal concepts," she wrote.
Jeffries' lawyer Brian Bieber declined to comment on the ruling. "We do not comment on the Judge's rulings. The case, and all related issues, will be tried inside the courtroom – not in the media," he said in an email.
Jeffries is currently free on bond. He is scheduled to go on trial in late October alongside two co-defendants, Matthew Smith and James Jacobson. A pretrial hearing is set for next Thursday. Jeffries' lawyers had argued that he required around-the-clock care for Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia, and a traumatic brain injury. Their medical experts testified that Jeffries' cognitive issues were "progressive and incurable" and that he would not "regain his competency."
Consequently, Choudhury ordered Jeffries to be hospitalized to see if his mental condition would improve. After about four months at Butner, federal prison officials in December deemed Jeffries mentally fit to stand trial. Jeffries, Smith, and Jacobson have pleaded not guilty to federal charges, including sex trafficking and interstate prostitution.
Prosecutors say the three used the promise of modeling jobs to lure men to drug-fueled sex parties in New York City, the Hamptons, and other locations. The criminal case echoes sexual misconduct accusations made in a civil case and in the media in recent years.
Jeffries left Abercrombie in 2014 after more than two decades. He is credited with transforming the New York retailer, originally founded to sell wilderness gear, into a mainstay of teen mall culture in the early 2000s with its preppy youth aesthetic and sexy marketing.