Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO sex-trafficking, prostitution case: Michael Jeffries' lawyer seeks ruling on client's mental fitness

The lawyer for ex-Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries in his pending prostitution and sex trafficking case has asked a judge to determine whether his client is mentally fit to stand trial, newly filed court papers show.

Brian H. Bieber, the Miami-based lawyer for Jeffries, filed an unopposed motion to determine competency to stand trial and two neuropsychological reports prepared by a doctor, he said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Nusrat Choudhury. Those documents are sealed, meaning the contents are confidential and only accessible to the defendant, his lawyers, prosecutors and the judge.

In Bieber’s letter to Choudhury dated Dec. 23, the defense attorney seeks to keep under seal the two medical reports that have been submitted as exhibits to the competency motion. The letter said the motion will be filed without any redactions.

"Mr. Jeffries recognizes the court’s need to balance his significant privacy interest against the public’s qualified right of access to judicial documents under the common law and First Amendment," Bieber wrote. "As set forth below, Mr. Jeffries respectfully submits that the court can reach the proper balance between these competing concerns by allowing Mr. Jeffries to publicly file his motion to determine competency without any content therein, while maintaining the medical reports submitted as exhibits in support thereof under seal."

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York, which is prosecuting the 80-year-old Jeffries, declined to comment.

Jeffries, of West Palm Beach, Florida, was indicted in October on one count of sex trafficking and 15 counts of interstate prostitution, with some of the alleged crimes occurring in the Hamptons and New York City.

He’s pleaded not guilty and was released from federal custody on a $10 million bond. He remains on house arrest.

Jeffries, who headed the clothing retailer from 1992 to 2014, was indicted along with his 61-year-old romantic partner, Matthew Smith, a British citizen who also lives in West Palm Beach. He’s also pleaded not guilty and was released on a $10 million bond.

Co-defendant James Jacobson, 71, who prosecutors said acted as a "recruiter" to find men for sexual encounters with Jeffries and Smith, has also pleaded not guilty.

Jacobson, of Rice Lake, Wisconsin, was released on a $500,000 bond.

Between December 2008 and March 2015, according to federal prosecutors, all three defendants operated an international sex trafficking business by fraudulently dangling the possibility of modeling for Abercrombie & Fitch at properties in Water Mill, New York City and other locations.

According to prosecutors, Jacobson, who was employed by Jeffries and Smith as a recruiter, conducted tryouts with men to determine who would have sex with his bosses.

Smith would "personally approve" who met Jeffries, prosecutors said. The victims were given alcohol, Viagra and muscle relaxers at the sex events, prosecutors have said.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.