U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who had been presiding over the federal case against Venezuela’s former leader Nicolás Maduro in Manhattan, died Wednesday at age 92, Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain announced.
Hellerstein, appointed to the Southern District of New York by President Bill Clinton in 1998, died of natural causes, according to the court. He was born in December 1933 and would have turned 93 in weeks. Over his more than 25-year career on the bench, he handled a range of high-profile matters, including litigation stemming from the September 11, 2001 attacks and cases involving President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies.
Hellerstein had been assigned the Maduro case since 2020, well before the Venezuelan leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, referred to as Venezuela’s “first combatant,” were taken into custody by U.S. forces in a January 3, 2026 operation in Caracas. In recent months he oversaw proceedings on drug trafficking charges against the pair, and this month additional charges were filed accusing them of running a state-sponsored system of repression that allegedly included the torture of numerous victims, among them several American citizens. Maduro and Flores have pleaded not guilty to the torture charges.
Hellerstein had been set to preside over the trial, which is scheduled to begin in June 2027. A pretrial hearing had already been placed on his calendar for December 17 before his death.
“Judge Hellerstein was an insightful and dedicated lawyer who, following a distinguished career in the private sector, served with distinction for over 25 years as a distinguished jurist of this court. He presided over the massive tort litigation arising from the September 11 attacks with sensitivity, fairness and efficiency, as well as many other high-profile matters,” Chief Judge Swain said in a Wednesday statement.
“His energetic and dedicated service to this Court continued until his death. He is greatly appreciated and will be sorely missed. Our deepest sympathies are with his family at this sad time.”
According to a report from the Courthouse News Service, Hellerstein had recently appeared frail on the bench while denying a house arrest request from Flores’ defense team, and he acknowledged at the time that he had a “voice problem” affecting his ability to deliver his oral ruling.
Cases on Hellerstein’s docket are expected to be redistributed at random among other judges in the Manhattan federal court. The Maduro and Flores case has reportedly been reassigned to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama in January 2013. The trial’s June 2027 start date, set under Hellerstein, reportedly remains unchanged for now.
Maduro’s defense team told ABC News in a statement Wednesday: “We were saddened to learn of Judge Hellerstein’s passing and offer our condolences to his family.”
