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New York rapper Daniel Hernandez — better known as Tekashi 69 or 6ix9ine — pleaded not guilty to federal racketeering and firearms charges in court on Monday, November 26, but was denied bail even as a trial date was set for September 4, 2019.

At this point, it appears the embattled Brooklyn rapper, who has been behind bars since November 18, may stay behind bars for much of that period – if not all of it – until a jury renders a verdict, TMZ reports.

The rapper is among five people indicted last week on charges that he directed or participated in violent acts as part of a deadly gang. Late last week, he was transferred from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn for safety concerns.

Last Wednesday, defense attorney Lance Lazzaro said in a statement that his client was “completely innocent of all charges.”

The indictment alleges that the violent episodes involving 6ix9ine included the July shooting of a bystander in Brooklyn and the gunpoint robbery of one of the gang’s rivals last spring.

“An entertainer who portrays a ‘gangster image’ to promote his music does not make him a member of an enterprise,” Lazzaro said. “Mr. Hernandez became a victim of this enterprise and later took steps by firing employees and publicly denounced this enterprise through a morning show. Threats were then made against his life which resulted in this case being brought immediately.”

However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Longyear said the rapper did not renounce his membership to the gang and that 6ix9ine would have been arrested anyway, but the timetable was sped up when authorities learned that he planned to go to a Connecticut casino where it would be harder to protect him from the threats.