(AP) — A federal magistrate judge is denying a request from a Manhattan physician to grant bail while awaiting trial on charges he illegally distributed painkillers from his clinic.

The motion was denied late Tuesday by Magistrate Judge Gary Sebelius in the case involving Dr. Michael P. Schuster. The physician remains in federal custody where he has been since a grand jury indictment was filed in May.

Schuster’s attorneys had argued that he and his wife had liquidated foreign assets and brought them back to the United States in effort to address concerns that Schuster was a flight risk.

Sebelius disagreed, saying even though the assets had been returned to the United States that the charges against Schuster were serious enough to deny bail.

A trial is set for May 2014.