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The erstwhile CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) has dementia and precocious onset Alzheimer's disease, his ineligible squad has said successful a tribunal papers filed successful New York.
Lawyers for Mike Jeffries person requested a proceeding to find whether helium is mentally acceptable to basal proceedings connected national enactment trafficking charges.
The 80-year-old was arrested alongside his spouse successful October and charged with moving an planetary enactment trafficking and prostitution business. Both men person pled not guilty.
A alleged competency proceeding has been scheduled for June adjacent year.
Mr Jeffries, who ran US covering marque A&F for 2 decades, is accused of moving a enactment trafficking and prostitution concern from astatine slightest 2008-15.
US prosecutors allege that helium utilized his wealth, powerfulness and presumption "to postulation men for his ain intersexual pleasure", and for the pleasance of his British spouse Matthew Smith, 61.
They said the couple, alongside a middleman James Jacobson, 71, utilized force, fraud and coercion to marque vulnerable, aspiring models prosecute successful convulsive and exploitative enactment acts.
All 3 men person pled not blameworthy to the charges and been released connected bond.
The FBI began investigating past twelvemonth aft the BBC revealed claims Mr Jeffries and Mr Smith had sexually exploited men astatine events they hosted astir the world.
The BBC investigation, published successful October 2023, recovered the brace were astatine the centre of a blase cognition involving a middleman scouting young men for sex.
In the aforesaid month, Brian Bieber, Mr Jeffries' lawyer, said his lawsuit was examined respective times by a neuropsychologist who aboriginal concluded diagnostic impressions that helium was suffering from 2 types of dementia and probable precocious onset Alzheimer's disease.
In the tribunal filing, Mr Bieber added that during an archetypal gathering past twelvemonth the erstwhile manner brag "did not adjacent travel adjacent to resembling a master's degree-educated individual, who was conscionable 9 years earlier the main enforcement serviceman of a publically traded company".
As a result, Mr Bieber questioned the quality of Mr Jeffries to "rationally assist" with the imaginable factual and ineligible defences to the allegations helium was facing, according to the document.
The filing comes aft Mr Jeffries' ineligible squad sought a competency hearing, which volition present beryllium held implicit 2 days connected 16 and 17 June 2025.
Federal prosecutors successful the Eastern District of New York declined to comment.
Mr Jeffries stepped down arsenic CEO and president of A&F successful 2014, and near with a $25m (£19.9m) status package.
Alongside the transgression case, A&F, Mr Jeffries and his spouse person been defending a civilian suit accusing the retailer of having funded a enactment trafficking operation.
Earlier this month, Mr Jeffries sued A&F aft it refused to wage his transgression defence costs, arguing the marque had agreed to indemnify him for each claims arising retired of his position.
English (US)