Ex-Abercrombie CEO’s Lawyer Seeks Competency Hearing in Hamptons Sex Trafficking Case

Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries’ attorney has filed a motion for a competency hearing in the case in which the ex-fashion executive is accused of leading a Hamptons sex trafficking ring.

Attorney Brian H. Bieber filed the motion Dec. 10 at Central Islip federal court and U.S. District Judge Nusrat Choudhury set a deadline of Dec. 24 for the defense to file papers seeking to seal the motion — the reason for which was not discussed during the hearing. The defense has until Feb. 6 to file its doctor’s report in support of the motion and prosecutors have until April 8 to file a doctor’s report in response. Choudhury has not yet set a date for the hearing.

Jeffries, who ran Abercrombie & Fitch between 1992 and 2014, along with his life partner Matthew C. Smith, and associate James T. Jacobson allegedly forced men over a seven-year period into being part of an international sex trafficking and prostitution business involving Jeffries’s Water Mill home, prosecutors have said. All three have pleaded not guilty.

No fewer than 15 men — with at least one as young as 19 years of age at the time — were part of the illicit operation and testified before the grand jury, according to the charges. Each recruit was paid to travel to locations in the U.S. and around the globe to engage in trysts with Jeffries and Smith, as well as large “sex events” with others. Federal prosecutors said that the men were allegedly recruited by Jacobson, who often auditioned each participant by engaging them in sexual acts.

The ring, according to the indictment, “intentionally recruited heterosexual men, certain of whom were unwilling to engage in particular sex acts, including anal sex,” but nonetheless forced them to engage in such acts during the sex events.

The next court appearance for the three defendants is March 13, 2025.