Victims' lawyer questions timing of dementia diagnosis of ex-Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries

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An attorney representing once-aspiring male models trafficked for sex in an international scheme allegedly orchestrated by ex-Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries is questioning claims that the 80-year-old has dementia and cannot stand trial.

Jeffries, along with two others, is facing charges in the scheme, which coerced dozens of men into sex with hopes of landing modeling jobs with the company. He and Abercrombie also are facing a class-action lawsuit from victims accusing the retailer of knowing of the operation and looking the other way.

“The timing of Mike Jeffries’s purported health issues is suspicious, to say the least,” Brad Edwards, an attorney for the victims, told Paste BN on Wednesday. He noted it appears he first saw a doctor after consulting with his defense attorney about the sex charges.

“My clients are following this closely, and we intend to provide information to law enforcement pertinent to this competency issue,” Edwards said. “We will hold everyone accountable for the heinous crimes committed against these many young men."

Prosecutors say the operation lasted years, cost millions of dollars and involved dozens of victims, according to court filings.

Edwards' comments come after the former CEO's attorneys said in court filings Monday that a neuropsychologist diagnosed Jeffries with Lewy body dementia and late-onset Alzheimer’s. Jeffries ran the clothing company from 1992 to 2014. He was arrested and charged in October.

Jeffries' attorney Brian Bieber wrote in the court filings Monday that he began questioning the former CEO’s “attentiveness, focus, competency, and understanding” in early meetings in the sex trafficking case. A neuropsychologist then diagnosed Jeffries with the neurodegenerative diseases, Bieber wrote.

The former CEO “did not even come close to resembling a Master’s degree-educated individual” who once ran a publicly traded company, Bieber wrote in filings in the Eastern District of New York. A neuropsychologist performed a series of evaluations in October before arriving at a diagnosis, filings say. 

Jeffries’ conditions are “irreversible and will continue to worsen over time,” Bieber wrote. “Continued physical and cognitive decline is expected until Mr. Jeffries eventually succumbs to the diseases.”

Bieber argued that Jeffries’ conditions mean he will not be able to assist in his own defense and therefore cannot be tried.

The competency hearing will be held June 16 and 17, according to Michael Loguercio, an administrative specialist for the Eastern District of New York.

Edwards said he expects the cases will be decided in his clients' favor. "When the criminal and civil cases end, we expect there to be a conclusion that will set an example and forever deter corporations and their leaders from engaging in the sexual exploitation that Abercrombie did.”

Sex trafficking male models: What to know about the charges

Jeffries was charged earlier this year along Matthew Smith, 61, of West Palm Beach, and James Jacobson, 71, of Wisconsin, with sex trafficking and engaging in interstate prostitution, prosecutors said. Smith has been referred to in hearings as Jeffries’ “life partner.”

The operation involved taking young, aspiring male models to events in New York and other places around the world and coercing them into having sex. The men were led to believe that the events would lead to modeling opportunities and further their careers. 

The indictment against Jeffries alleges in graphic and disturbing detail that while he was CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, he used “his power, his wealth and his influence to traffic men for his own sexual pleasure and that of his romantic partner, Smith,” Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said when the charges were announced. 

The 16-count indictment lays out a sprawling investigation and charges the three defendants with exploiting young men in New York City, the Hamptons and in hotels around the world, including in England, France, Italy, Morocco and St. Barts. 

Jeffries and Smith employed Jacobson as a “recruiter” to find men and pay them to engage in sex acts, Peace said. Smith would personally select men to be flown to the couple’s homes or hotels “to engage in commercial sex,” Peace said.

Heterosexual men were intentionally recruited, some of whom had worked for Abercrombie, according to the indictment. 

The defendants employed a staff to operate events where victims would be supplied with drugs and alcohol and coerced into sexual activity, the indictment says. The staff helped keep the events secret by ensuring the men handed over their phones and signed nondisclosure agreements, prosecutors say.

Peace said the operation lasted from at least from 2008 to 2015 and required millions of dollars to support its massive infrastructure and maintain secrecy. In addition to paying the men for sex, the defendants spent prolific amounts on the staff to run it, he said.

Though only 15 men are identified in the indictment as John Does, Peace said, prosecutors believe “dozens and dozens” of victims were involved. He thanked the victims for coming forward and encouraged any others to contact the FBI.