NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on the sex trafficking case against financier Jeffrey Epstein (all times local):
11:30 a.m.
A federal judge has set a tentative trial date next year for the wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said Wednesday that June 2020 is the earliest Epstein will stand trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.
Epstein’s defense attorneys asked the judge for additional time to review what they described as 1 million pages of discovery in the complex case. They asked for a trial date after Labor Day 2020.
Prosecutors said there is a public interest in resolving the case earlier than that.
Epstein has pleaded not guilty to charges he abused dozens of underage girls in New York and Florida.
He is being held without bail in a Manhattan jail.
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1:20 a.m.
Financier Jeffrey Epstein is set to return to court to face sex trafficking charges just days after he was found injured in his cell.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman had scheduled the pretrial hearing for Wednesday before Epstein was found on the floor of his cell last week with neck bruises. It wasn’t immediately clear how the injury occurred.
The bruises weren’t so serious that he was unable to remain at the Metropolitan Correction Center, which is adjacent to the downtown Manhattan courthouse.
Epstein, accused of having sex with girls as young as age 14, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers say an agreement reached with federal prosecutors a dozen years ago disallows the charges.
Berman has asked lawyers to discuss a schedule Wednesday for the case to proceed.
