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Former Abercrombie CEO Michael Jeffries deemed competent for sex trial
A judge found the 82-year-old former CEO has a rational and factual understanding of the proceedings after months in a federal prison hospital.
Michael Jeffries, the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, has been ruled mentally competent to stand trial on sex-trafficking charges, after being hospitalized for months with dementia and Alzheimer’s-related symptoms, the Guardian Business reports.
The judge, Nusrat Choudhury, said Jeffries “clearly possesses a rational and factual understanding of the proceedings,” concluding he is a reasonably intelligent person and skilled communicator following his stay at a federal prison hospital in Butner, North Carolina.
Choudhury’s decision cited medical and communications evidence reviewed in court, including testimony and written reports from medical experts, and hours of phone calls Jeffries made to his romantic partner, lawyers, and others while in custody.
Jeffries, who is 82, is free on bond for now and is scheduled to be tried in late October alongside two co-defendants, his partner Matthew Smith and staffer James Jacobson, with a pretrial hearing previously slated for Thursday.