(New York) According to US federal prison authorities, the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch is fit to stand trial on federal sex trafficking charges after being hospitalized for Alzheimer’s, Lewy body disease and head trauma.
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Michael Jeffries’ hospitalization was ordered in May. In a letter filed Wednesday in New York federal court, the acting director of the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, Blake Lott, said the 81-year-old is “now competent to stand trial.”
Mr. Lott did not provide further details in the letter, but indicated that the center provided a report to the judge overseeing the case. According to previous case documents, Mr. Jeffries left the hospital on November 21.
His lawyer, Brian Bieber, said other doctors had already declared his client unfit to stand trial.
“A doctor from the Federal Bureau of Prisons has a different opinion. We are waiting for the judge to review the medical evidence and decide how to proceed with the case,” he wrote in an email sent Wednesday.
The letter comes as prosecutors and lawyers for Mr. Jeffries are scheduled to speak by telephone Thursday with Judge Nusrat Choudhury of the Eastern District Court of New York to provide an update on the case.
Last year, Mr. Jeffries pleaded not guilty to federal charges of sex trafficking and interstate prostitution.
His lawyers then argued that the former executive needed constant care and was incapable of understanding the nature and consequences of the accusations against him or of participating effectively in his defense.
They said at least four medical professionals concluded that their client’s cognitive impairment was “progressive and incurable” and that he would never recover his mental faculties.
Mr. Jeffries’ lawyers and prosecutors had requested that he be hospitalized in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons so that he could receive treatment that would allow his trial to proceed.
Judge Choudhury granted this request and ordered his placement in hospital for a maximum period of four months. Previously, Mr Jeffries had been released on bail of 10 million.
According to the prosecution, Mr. Jeffries, his partner and a third man used the promise of modeling contracts to lure men to libertine parties under the influence of drugs in New York, the Hamptons and elsewhere.
The accusations echo accusations of sexual misconduct made in a civil case and reported by the media in recent years.
Michael Jeffries left Abercrombie & Fitch in 2014 after more than twenty years at the helm of the company. His partner, Matthew Smith, has also pleaded not guilty and remains free on bail, as does the other defendant, James Jacobson.
