Nicolás Maduro Back in Court Wednesday, Could Face Trial in June 2027

The ousted president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, could face trial as early as June 2027. Prosecutors for the Justice Department filed a letter Tuesday evening, writing the parties had agreed on a schedule for pretrial motions and a trial date. The attorneys intend to ask the judge to finalize those dates during a hearing on Wednesday.Mr. Maduro, 63, and his wife, Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro, 69, have pleaded not guilty to charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, drug trafficking, and weapons offenses. The couple was taken into custody by American Special Operation Forces at their residence in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, on January 3 and flown to New York, where they are being held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Federal prosecutors accuse Mr. Maduro, Ms. Flores, and Mr. Maduro’s son from a previous marriage, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, as well as two high-ranking Venezuelan officials, and the alleged leader of the drug trafficking gang Tren de Aragua of running decades-long operations that sent large quantities of cocaine into the United States to enrich themselves. Apart from Mr. Maduro and Ms. Flores, the remaining defendants remain at large or have not yet been apprehended.In April, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who presides over the unprecedented case, ruled that the parties may not share any of the evidence exchanged before trial with “any named defendant who has not yet been apprehended” or with that defendant’s attorney. Furthermore, the judge’s order laid out a framework for handling what is expected to be a massive volume of sensitive evidence. According to the indictment, Mr. Maduro and his co-conspirators transported “thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States” over the course of 25 years. Prosecutors allege that the former president “provided diplomatic passports to drug traffickers,” some of whom belonged to organizations designated as terrorist groups such as Colombia’s Revolutionary Armed Forces and Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. Mr. Maduro is represented by Barry Pollack, the criminal defense attorney who negotiated the plea agreement for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that allowed him to return to his native Australia rather than facing charges in the U.S.During a March hearing, the attorney said that Mr. Maduro was unable to pay his legal fees because U.S. sanctions on Venezuela prevented the Venezuelan government from making payments without a special license. That license had been denied. Mr. Pollack sought dismissal of the entire case, arguing that the restriction violated Mr. Maduro’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel of his choice.Judge Hellerstein appeared receptive to the argument, describing Mr. Maduro’s right to a defense as “paramount” to the national security concerns, raised by the prosecution. He also pointed out that relations between the two countries had been restored. In April, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control granted the license, allowing Venezuela to cover the costs. And with financial funds secured, the former president added another high-profile criminal defense attorney to his team: Anna Maria Estevao. Ms. Estevao was thrust into the national spotlight when she cross-examined Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former girlfriend Cassandra Ventura, during his federal sex trafficking trial. The sensational case was prosecuted in the same courthouse as the Maduro case, in the Southern District of New York. Combs’ defense team was able to persuade the jury to acquit him of the most serious charges, which could have landed him in prison for the rest of his life, and convicted him only on two lesser counts.Ms. Estevao is a partner at the New York law firm Harris Trzaskoma LLP, which Mr. Pollack joined in June. He told Business Insider he would now have the “resources” needed to assist in Mr. Maduro’s defense. Another attorney, who came aboard the firm, who has not been officially added to Maduro’s team, is Susan Hoffinger. She previously served as a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office before entering private practice, where she was part of the team that prosecuted President Trump in his 2024 criminal trial. And low and behold, the prosecution side could also soon see a familiar face from that case. A partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, James McDonald, who assisted the president in that trial, has been selected to succeed Jay Clayton as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, pending Senate confirmation. Mr. Clayton is awaiting confirmation to serve as Director of National Intelligence.Tuesday’s letter, signed by Mr. Clayton indicated that the next legal battle looming in the Maduro case will revolve around the question of whether or not the former Venezuelan leader is immune from prosecution in American courts. Mr. Clayton suggested the first round of pretrial filings should take place before the government completed discovery and “would include the defense’s anticipated motion asserting that Maduro is immune from prosecution.”Under the proposed schedule, Mr. Maduro’s attorneys would file their motion to dismiss the indictment on sovereign immunity grounds by September, with oral arguments set for November. Any remaining pretrial motions would be due in January. According to the filing, prosecutors have already provided the defense with most of the unclassified evidence and expect to hand over the classified evidence by November.Wednesday’s hearing is scheduled to begin at noon.

Nicolás Maduro Back in Court Wednesday, Could Face Trial in June 2027

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