GHISLAINE MAXWELL’S LAWYER has asked for a delay to her proposed trial after new sex-trafficking charges were added.
Bobbi Sternheim wrote in a letter to a Manhattan federal judge that a superseding indictment last month makes it impossible to be ready for trial by 12 July.
She asked for a minimum three-month delay but said postponing until mid-January was likely necessary because lawyers have prior commitments until then.
Maxwell, 59, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, was arrested last July and is being held without bail.
Prosecutors said last week they will oppose delaying the trial.
The original charges involved three girls from 1994 to 1997, and were part of an alleged conspiracy to recruit teenage girls for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse.
The rewritten indictment added a fourth victim to the case and stretched the alleged conspiracy until 2004.
Sternheim wrote: “Defending quarter-century-old allegations has required investigation across this country and around the world.
“Investigating the new allegations will require the same efforts and diligence.”
She also called it “laughable” that prosecutors cited Covid-19 as reason for a delay in bringing new charges while opposing additional time for the defence to prepare for trial.
“Defence preparation is not immune to the impact of the pandemic,” she said.
Epstein faced sex trafficking charges when he died in a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019.
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