BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – A descendant of George Washington wanted in France for allegedly bludgeoning a fellow American with a vodka bottle at a St. Tropez nightclub will remain in U.S. custody while French authorities pursue extradition.

A magistrate judge Monday refused to throw out an arrest warrant and criminal complaint accusing John Augustine Washington V, an Oxford University history student, of an unprovoked attack on London-based financier Colin Hall in July.

Mr. Hall, 36, spent several days in a coma and the assault became front-page news in Europe.

Mr. Washington, who says he is a descendant of the first U.S. president’s brother, John, was arrested on an international warrant Dec. 18 at the Chautauqua Institution, a learning and arts retreat in southwestern New York.

His attorney, Amy Martoche, tried to get Washington freed Monday by challenging the contents of the arrest warrant and complaint. Magistrate Judge Leslie Foschio allowed both to stand.

Mr. Washington – who is 43 but lists his age as 26 on his student identity card – declined to appear for the hearing in a Buffalo courtroom. He could face five years in prison if convicted of the assault.

French authorities, under a treaty with the United States, have 60 days from the time of Washington’s arrest to submit formal extradition papers. In the meantime, the U.S. government has filed documents painting Washington as a flight risk who ran from French police as acquaintances urged him to turn himself in.

Among the documents is a letter signed “John Washington” to a woman named Paula saying he believed he drank something laced with the date-rape drug Rohypnol at the nightclub.

“I expected at this point to be tooling around Europe with two beautiful girls in my leased Renault,” the letter said. “Instead, I have received over 17 death threats from the Mafia, am fervently pursued by the tabloid press… The last time I hit someone I was nine years old.”

In another letter, Mr. Washington refers to himself as “the most hated person in England right now.”

That letter, addressed “Dear Mr. Diddy,” begins with an anecdote about the arrest of his great-great-great grandfather. “His mother simply barged in to see President Lincoln, who wrote the following: `The boy, John Washington, may remain free, so long as he stays in school, on good behavior.’

“That’s how easy it was,” the letter said, “you had a problem, you saw the President.”