Former Abercrombie & Fitch chief, Mike Jeffries, was declared fit to face federal sex‑trafficking charges by prison officials, weeks after a medical review had marked him mentally unfit because of dementia and late‑onset Alzheimer’s.
The 81‑year‑old accused of orchestrating paid sex parties with drug‑assisted men was once considered incompetent after a May hospitalization. However, a letter the prison sent to a Brooklyn federal judge noted improvement in his condition.
Acting warden Blake Lott stated that Jeffries can now grasp the nature and ramifications of his case and can help craft his own defense, though he didn’t detail the specifics in the filing.
The prison forwarded a report to the judge overseeing the matter. Court records show Jeffries left the Federal Medical Center on November 21. His lawyer, Brian Bieber, brushed off the reversal, reminding that other doctors had earlier ruled Jeffries unable to pursue the case.
In a statement he added, “A doctor from the Bureau of Prisons is of a different opinion. We look forward to the judge hearing the medical evidence, and deciding on the appropriate course of action moving forward.”
This development followed a status hearing with U.S. District Judge Nusrat Choudhury conducted over the phone. The defense had argued that Jeffries needed full‑time care and could not appreciate the legal proceedings.
They cited four medical experts who described his cognitive decline as progressive, incurable, and likely permanent. Jeffries, who led Abercrombie from 1992 to 2014, pleaded not guilty last year to federal charges of sex trafficking and interstate prostitution.
Prosecutors claim that Jeffries, his partner Matthew Smith, and associate James Jacobson lured men with the promise of modeling gigs to drug‑filled parties in New York, the Hamptons, and abroad.
These allegations mirror a civil suit in which two aspiring male models alleged they were offered lucrative jobs only to be drugged, raped, and trafficked by Jeffries and his circle.
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