Ex-Abercrombie CEO Michael Jeffries is fit to stand trial, prison officials say
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prison officials say the former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO is fit to stand trial on federal sex trafficking charges after being hospitalized for Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia and head trauma.
Michael Jeffries had been ordered to be hospitalized in May. But in a letter filed Wednesday in New York federal court, Blake Lott, acting director of the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, said the 81-year-old was “now competent to stand trial.”
Lott did not provide further details in the letter but said the center provided a report to the judge overseeing the case. Jeffries had been released from FMC-Butner on Nov. 21, according to previous documents in the case.
Brian Bieber, an attorney for Jeffries, responded that other doctors had previously found his client mentally incompetent to prosecute.
“A Bureau of Prisons doctor has a different opinion,” he said in an email Wednesday. “We look forward to the judge hearing the medical evidence and deciding the appropriate course of action moving forward.”
The letter comes as prosecutors and Jeffries’ lawyers are expected to speak by phone Thursday with U.S. District Court Judge Nusrat Choudhury about the status of the case.
Jeffries pleaded not guilty last year to federal charges of sex trafficking and interstate prostitution.
His lawyers had argued that the former executive required 24-hour care and was unable to understand the nature and consequences of the case against him or properly assist in his defense.
They had said that at least four medical professionals concluded that Jeffries’ cognitive problems were “progressive and incurable” and that he would not “recover and be unable to regain competence in the future.”
Jeffries’ lawyers and prosecutors had requested that he be hospitalized at the Federal Bureau of Prisons so he could receive treatment that would allow his criminal case to proceed.
Choudhury agreed, ordering his placement in hospital for up to four months. Before that, Jeffries was free on $10 million bail.
Prosecutors say Jeffries, his romantic partner, Matthew Smith, and a third man used the promise of modeling jobs to lure men to drug-fueled sex parties in New York, the Hamptons and elsewhere. The accusations echoed accusations of sexual misconduct made in a civil case and the media in recent years.
Jeffries left Abercrombie in 2014 after more than two decades at the helm. Smith also pleaded not guilty and remains on bond, as does their co-defendant, James Jacobson.
