An attorney for the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, Mike Jeffries, have requested a hearing to see if he is mentally competent to stand trial on sex trafficking charges.
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Jeffries, 80, partner Matthew Smith, and their associate James Jacobson were indicted in October by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York on over a dozen counts related to sex trafficking between December 2008 and March 2015.
The three are accused of recruiting aspiring male models and coercing them into performing sex acts to further their careers. Jeffries and his associates would allegedly bring the men, who expressed the desire to become models for Abercrombie & Fitch, to sex parties where the men would be given drugs, alcohol, and Viagra, then made to perform the acts.
A lawyer for Jeffries, Brian Bieber, made the request in federal court on Long Island last week, the Associated Press reports. Bieber gave no reason, and there was no discussion. He issued a statement saying the request “will be dealt with in Court as, and when, appropriate — according to the Judge.”
Jeffries’s attorneys have until December 24 to give to the court additional information, including how much of the competency request can be sealed, U.S. District Judge Nusrat Choudhury ruled. They must submit a report from Jeffries’s doctor by February 6, and prosecutors have to submit a report from a doctor of their choice by April 8. A date for the competency hearing has not been set. This all could delay the trial for months.
Jeffries was indicted one year after Abercrombie & Fitch announced it would be hiring an independent law firm to investigate allegations against him and Smith, revealed in a report by the BBC, claiming that the pair sexually exploited young men during Jeffries’s time as CEO, which spanned 1992 to 2014. Company officials have said current leadership was not previously aware of the allegations.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, theNational Sexual Assault Hotline is available 24/7 with free and confidential services. More resources are availablehere. If you or someone you know has experienced trafficking, or if you suspect someone is a victim of trafficking, the National Human Trafficking Hotline is also available at (888) 373-7888, toll-free and 24/7.
