appeared in a Manhattan court briefly Tuesday and had his trial scheduled to begin October 22, more than a year after he was arrested.
Arbabsiar has pleaded not guilty.
His lawyer, Sabrina Schroff, appealed to US District Judge John Keenan for more time to prepare her defense of Arbabsiar. “The case is complex and the indictment is complex,” she said.
Judge Keenan was unimpressed. “I’m giving you eight months,” he said. “And it’s 363 days between the first time I saw him and the trial.”
Schroff said she will submit a letter asking for another month.
Judge Keenan said, “I don’t want this thing dragging on. It’s not fair to the defendant, and it’s not fair to the government, and it’s not fair to the witnesses.”
The judge ordered prosecutors to turn over to the defense all the documents they are able to access by March 9.
Arbabsiar, 56, did not say anything at the brief court session.
Arbabsiar is accused of working as an agent of the Qods Force. Court papers say he approached a man in Mexico he thought was a member of a Mexican narco-terror group and offered to pay him to kill the ambassador. The drug cartel man was actually a US agent who had infiltrated the cartel.