Lawyers for former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, Mike Jeffries, arrested earlier this year on federal sex trafficking charges, have requested a hearing to determine whether the businessman is mentally fit to stand trial after dementia revelation.

According to the BBC, court documents filed in New York said Mr Jeffries, 80, has dementia and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, leading his legal team to file for a competency hearing, which has now been scheduled for June next year.

In the court filing, Mr Jeffries’ lawyer, Brian Bieber, said during an initial meeting last year the ex-fashion boss “did not even come close to resembling a master’s degree-educated individual, who was just nine years earlier the chief executive officer of a publicly traded company.”

The so-called competency hearing will now take place over two days on June 16 and 17, 2025.

In October this year, Mr Jeffries and his British partner Matthew Smith, 61, alongside middleman James Jacobson, 71, were arrested for running an international sex trafficking and prostitution business between 2008 and 2015.

Prosecutors in the U.S. are alleging that Mr Jeffries used his wealth, power and status “to traffic men for his own sexual pleasure” for his pleasure and that of his partner, Smith.

They were accused of using force, fraud and coercion to make vulnerable, aspiring models engage in violent and exploitative sex acts following an FBI investigation that began last year.

Following their arraignments, all three men pleaded not guilty to the charges and were subsequently released on bond. Mr Jeffries was the CEO and chairman of A&F before stepping down in 2014.