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Nicolás Maduro, the former far-left leader of Venezuela captured in a U.S. special forces operation over the weekend along with his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared in court Monday on federal narco-terrorism, drug trafficking and firearms charges.
The case has drawn comparisons to the similar downfall of Panama dictator Manuel Noriega in the 1980s and appears to illustrate a reorganization of American foreign policy priorities in President Donald Trump’s second term.
Maduro and Flores both pleaded not guilty in a federal court Monday and waived their rights to a speedy trial until at least mid-March, when they are next due in court.
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Here’s a breakdown of key legal figures in the case:
The judge:
Judge Alvin Hellerstein is presiding over the proceedings.
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Maduro’s case is not the only pending narco-terrorism case in Hellerstein’s court. Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal, a former Venezuelan general, pleaded guilty to conspiracies to commit narco-terrorism and import in front of Hellerstein last year. He also pleaded guilty to charges of possessing machine guns and destructive devices and conspiring to possess more.
Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, who played a role in the 2020 indictment but is no longer involved in the case, told Fox News Monday that prosecutors could have gained new evidence from Carvajal that wasn’t available to his office years ago.
The 92-year-old judge was nominated by then-President Bill Clinton in 1998 and has played a role in a number of high-profile legal decisions, including to release images from Abu Ghraib, the rejection of proposed civil settlements from Harvey Weinstein, and a copyright infringement case between The Associated Press and artist Shepard Fairey.
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Hellerstein rejected requests from Trump to move the Stormy Daniels case to federal court, leaving it in the New York state system, where Judge Juan Merchan presided. He ruled against the Trump administration in 2025, finding that using the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, without approval from the courts.
“He was appointed under Clinton, and people believe he leans to the left,” said Louis Gelormino, a New York City defense attorney who has had cases in front of the judge. “However, I have always found him to be fair and equitable — not favoring with right or left.”
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The Columbia Law School alumnus has been the district’s senior judge since 2011 and was a member of the U.S. Army JAG Corps in the 1950s.
In the Southern District of New York, criminal cases are assigned to judges in a randomized process once an indictment is in place.
“[Hellerstein is] always courteous and respectful to the parties but won’t let lawyers or litigants go too far,” Gelormino added. “Perfect example today was Maduro started rambling. He eventually cut him off.”
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The defense:
Defense attorney Barry Pollack, who has offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City, has filed to appear on Maduro’s behalf.
He has extensive experience with major, international cases as well as overturning wrongful convictions.
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He is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and negotiated the plea agreement that freed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. He represented a former Enron accounting executive, winning acquittals on fraud charges after the company’s highly public, multibillion-dollar collapse in the early 2000s.
Another high-profile client was Marty Tankleff, a New York man who was exonerated after serving 17 years in prison for a wrongful conviction on charges that he had killed his parents in their home in the upscale, waterfront village of Belle Terre in New York.
“Pollack will argue sovereign immunity for Maduro,” said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor who put hundreds of cross-border drug traffickers behind bars early in his career. “He briefly mentioned it in court.”
Pollack described Maduro’s arrest as “an abduction” in court Monday and said he expected to file extensive motions as the case plays out.
“The argument will fail like it did in the Noriega case because the State Department does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate head of state,” Rahmani said. “That’s why the indictment says Maduro is the illegitimate ruler of Venezuela.”
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Maduro’s wife will be represented by Houston-based attorney Mark Donnelly, appearing pro hac vice.
He is a former federal prosecutor in Texas who worked on behalf of the Texas House of Representatives on the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paxton was acquitted by the state Senate.
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Donnelly said in court Monday that his client had been injured in the ribs during the raid in Caracas and requested a medical check.
“Both Pollack and Donnelly will also argue immunity based on official acts,” Rahmani said. “That argument will also fail because narco-terrorism and drug trafficking are not official acts.”
The prosecution:
Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, signed a superseding indictment unsealed over the weekend.
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Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle A. Wirshba spoke on behalf of the government at Monday’s arraignment, but he was one of about a half-dozen people seated at the prosecutors’ table.
He’s one of SDNY’s most experienced prosecutors handling prominent foreign figures accused of drug trafficking.
Wirshba is a member of the SDNY’s national security and international narcotics unit and has prosecuted the Tren de Aragua gang and its alleged leader, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, who is also named as a co-defendant in Maduro’s indictment.
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Wirshba has been involved in the case since the initial indictment back in 2020 and played a leading role in the prosecution of former Maduro ally Cliver Alcala Cordones, who had been a general in Venezuela’s military before falling out with his socialist boss and later pleading guilty to providing material support to the FARC, an anti-government, armed militant group in Colombia that U.S. officials said trafficked tons of cocaine to American soil.
He is the lead prosecutor against Mexican cartel leader Jesus Mendez-Vargas, who was extradited to face trial in the U.S. last year, according to the Justice Department, and secured the conviction of former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez on cocaine trafficking and firearms charges in 2024.
President Donald Trump pardoned Hernandez in December.
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The charges:
Maduro faces four charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Flores faces three: cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Both are being held at a federal jail in Brooklyn. Their attorneys reserved the right to request bail in the future, but legal experts say it’s unlikely the judge would grant it.
“This is an older indictment from 2020, and would have to have been signed off on by the Attorney General given the high profile and politically sensitive nature of the defendants,” Rahmani said. “Bill Barr is very experienced and would not have approved the indictment unless he believed the DOJ had enough evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Prosecutors will likely rely on wiretaps, flipped conspirators and undercover operatives, he told Fox News Digital.
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Lawyers on both sides declined to address the media outside the courthouse following Maduro’s arraignment Monday.
Fox News Research and Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
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