The trial date in U.S. Court for Rathdrum lawmaker John Green has been moved to January.

Green, who was indicted last year in Texas on charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, was supposed to go to trial this month. The date was moved to Jan. 6 after U.S. attorneys filed a motion to delay, giving them more time to prepare for trial.

The motion was granted last week by U.S. District Judge Karen Green Scholer, who represents the northern district of Texas. Scholer wrote that because of the complexity of the case, “the failure to grant a continuance would deny counsel the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation” by both parties.

Green, an attorney licensed to practice in Texas, did not return phone calls Tuesday. He has said he’s being targeted because he has litigated many tax cases involving the Internal Revenue Service.

“They don’t like it when you stand up to them,” Green said last spring. “I’ve said this before. The IRS is a criminal organization. They don’t care about the law. They do what they want to do.”

A federal grand jury in Fort Worth indicted Green and two longtime clients while Green was campaigning for Idaho House of Representatives Seat B in District 2, an election Green won.

The couple, Thomas and Michelle Selgas, are separately charged with tax evasion. All three have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“The allegations are all absolutely false,” Green said last spring. “My clients did not evade any taxes.”

The parties are accused of defrauding the U.S. government by hiding money from the IRS in a bank account used by Green to hold money in trust for clients. Green is accused of maintaining several lawyer-client accounts as part of the alleged tax evasion scheme. He is also accused of filing false tax returns.

If found guilty, all three could face five-year prison terms.

Green has said he has broken no laws and owes no money to the government.