Lawyers for the former Abercrombie CEO say he has dementia and may not be able to stand trial

Michael Jeffries, former CEO CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, may have dementia and a competency hearing is needed to determine whether he can face sex charges, his lawyers argue.

Defense attorneys for Jeffries said in court papers unsealed Monday in federal court in Central Islip, Long Island, that a neuropsychologist who examined Jeffries in October concluded that he likely has dementia with conduct disorder, Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia .

Jeffries, 80, is free on $10 million bond after pleads not guilty in October to federal charges of sex trafficking and interstate prostitution. The former CEO was arrested the same month charged with sex trafficking and engaging in interstate prostitution, with prosecutors alleging that Jeffries used his position as CEO to lure young men into sex by suggesting they could model for the fashion company,

The attorneys wrote that the neuropsychologist concluded that cognitive impairments, including impaired memory, impaired attention, slow processing speed and mild confusion mean Jeffries would be unable to assist his attorneys.

In a joint letter to the judge, defense attorneys and prosecutors suggested that experts who have evaluated Jeffries testify at a two-day competency hearing in June so that a competency determination can follow. A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that the office would have no further comment.

Jeffries’ arrest came after one 2023 trial filed by an actor who alleged the former CEO ran a sex-trafficking operation that targeted aspiring male models. In the current case, prosecutors say Jeffries, his romantic partner and a third man lured men to drug-fueled sex parties in the Hamptons on Long Island by promising to model for the retailer’s ads.

Jeffries left Abercrombie in 2014 after more than two decades leading the clothing retailer once famous for its preppy, all-American aesthetic and marketing featuring shirtless male models.

In an indictment unsealed in October, prosecutors alleged that 15 accusers were induced by “coercion, fraud and coercion” to attend sex parties from 2008 to 2015 in New York City and the Hamptons, the affluent summer resort on Long Island, where Jeffries has a home, as well as hotels in England, France, Italy, Morocco and St. Barts.

Prosecutors say the men were sometimes asked to wear costumes, use sex toys and endure painful erection-inducing penile injections.