A US judge has granted Ghislaine Maxwell’s request to delay her trial on charges she procured teenage girls for the late financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, and said the trial will begin in the northern autumn.

US District Judge Alison Nathan on Monday said a “short” postponement of the scheduled July 12 trial was appropriate because federal prosecutors added new charges to the case, and COVID-19 protocols made trial preparation harder.

Nathan ordered prosecutors and Maxwell’s lawyers to jointly propose a new trial date by May 10.

Lawyers for Maxwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for US Attorney Audrey Strauss in Manhattan declined to comment.

Maxwell, 59, had sought to delay the trial until at least November 8, citing the charges added on March 29 to the government’s case.

She has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and other charges over her alleged role in procuring four teenage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.

-AAP