Judge Alvin Hellerstein, 92, oversees the case against Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, having handled numerous high-profile trials including 9/11 and Trump-related cases.
NEW YORK: The case against deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is being overseen by 92-year-old US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism and other charges in Hellerstein’s Manhattan courtroom on Monday.
The judge has presided over the sprawling drug trafficking case, in which Maduro was indicted in 2020, for nearly 15 years.
Hellerstein was nominated to the bench by former president Bill Clinton in 1998.
His lengthy career includes presiding over major civil cases stemming from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
He has also ruled on cases involving former president Donald Trump, rejecting a request to move Trump’s New York hush money case to federal court.
Last year, Hellerstein blocked the Trump administration from deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members without a court hearing.
In September, he sentenced tech entrepreneur Charlie Javice to more than seven years in prison for defrauding JPMorgan Chase.
He also sentenced Archegos Capital Management founder Bill Hwang to 18 years in prison for fraud.
In 2015, Hellerstein ordered the US government to release photos depicting detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan.
