The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) suffers from dementia and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, his legal team said in a court document filed in New York.

Mike Jeffries’ lawyers have requested a hearing to determine whether he is mentally competent to stand trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

The 80-year-old was arrested along with his partner in October and charged with running an international sex trafficking and prostitution business. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

A so-called competency hearing is planned for June next year.

Mr Jeffries, who ran US clothing brand A&F for two decades, is accused of running a sex trafficking and prostitution business from at least 2008 to 2015.

U.S. prosecutors allege he used his wealth, power and status “to traffic people for his own sexual pleasure.”and to the delight of his British partner Matthew Smith, 61.

They said the couple, along with middleman James Jacobson, 71, used force, fraud and coercion to induce vulnerable, aspiring models to engage in violent and exploitative sexual acts.

All three men pleaded not guilty and were released on bail.

The FBI began investigating last year after the BBC uncovered allegations that Mr Jeffries and Mr Smith had sexually exploited men at events they hosted around the world.

The BBC investigationpublished in October 2023, found that the couple was at the center of a sophisticated operation in which a middleman preyed on young men looking for sex.

That same month, Brian Bieber, Mr. Jeffries’ lawyer, said his client had been examined several times by a neuropsychologist who later came to the diagnostic conclusion that he was suffering from two types of dementia and probably late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

In the court filing, Mr. Bieber added that when they first met last year, the former fashion boss “did not come close to resembling a person with a master’s degree who had been CEO of a publicly traded company just nine years earlier.” .

As a result, according to the document, Mr. Bieber questioned Mr. Jeffries’ ability to “rationally assist” in the possible factual and legal defense of the allegations he faced.

The filing comes after Mr. Jeffries’ legal team requested a competency hearing, which will now take place over two days on June 16 and 17, 2025.

Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York declined to comment.

Mr Jeffries stepped down as CEO and chairman of A&F in 2014, leaving the company with a $25m (£19.9m) retirement package.

In addition to the criminal case, A&F, Mr. Jeffries and his partner defended a civil lawsuit accusing the retailer of funding a sex trafficking operation.

earlier this month Mr. Jeffries sued A&F after the company refused to pay his criminal defense costsstating that the brand had agreed to compensate him for any claims arising from his position.

Heather Cucolo, a professor at New York Law School who specializes in intellectual disability and criminal law, said there are limited statistics on how the justice system handles dementia, but medical experts need to weigh in before the judge makes a final decision.

“If Mike Jeffries is found competent, the case will move forward,” she said. “But if he is found incompetent and it is found that there is no reasonable likelihood that his competency will be restored, the charges would have to be dropped.”

His partners Matthew Smith and James Jacobson could still stand trial, but prosecutors would have to rely on independent evidence if Mr Jeffries was found to be unable to testify either, she added.