The federal judge in the Alabama extortion case against Joran van der Sloot has recused herself from the case.

U.S. District Judge Karen Bowdre on Wednesday successfully sought the recusal, court records show. A reason for the request was not disclosed.

The case has been reassigned to U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco.

A Peruvian executive order last week paved the way for van der Sloot to be extradited to the U.S. to face charges he extorted thousands from Natalee Holloway’s mother.

There still is no finalized plan for the transfer and it’s unclear when he will arrive in the U.S.

Read full coverage of the case here

The 35-year-old van der Sloot has long been suspected in the disappearance and death of the Mountain Brook High School graduate visiting Aruba in 2005.

However, van der Sloot has never been charged in her death.

Instead, he will be tried in Birmingham’s federal court on charges that he told Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway, that he would lead her to Natalee’s body in exchange for $250,000.

Holloway paid van der Sloot a $25,000 down payment only to find out that he lied about the location of Natalee’s remains.

A federal grand jury in Birmingham indicted van der Sloot in 2010 on charges of extortion and wire fraud.

Van der Sloot, a Dutch national from Aruba, is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for the 2010 murder of Lima college student Stephany Flores.

Flores was killed five years to the day of Natalee’s disappearance.

Van der Sloot will not fight extradition on the extortion charge, Peruvian attorney Maximo Altez told the UK Daily Mail.

In the Alabama case, van der Sloot is represented by Kevin Butler of the federal public defender for Alabama’s Northern District Court.

Altez also told the news site that van der Sloot plans to divorce his current wife and marry “prettier and younger” Eva Pacohuanaco, a 24-year-old woman accused of helping van der Sloot smuggle almost 300 grams of cocaine and 140 grams of marijuana into a Peruvian jail.

The act added another seven years to van der Sloot’s sentence.