Hellerstein, the 92-year-old judge appointed by Clinton, who is in charge of the Maduro and Cilia case

New York.- Federal Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, 92 years old, will lead the trial against the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, accused of narcoterrorism and cocaine trafficking, and his wife, Cilia Flores, included for the first time in the indictment for her alleged participation in the coordination of the network.

Hellerstein, appointed in 1998 as a judge of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) by former President Bill Clinton, is a specialist in complex, high-profile cases, and has handled proceedings related to organized crime and transnational crimes. Born in New York on December 28, 1933, Hellerstein studied at Columbia University, served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps between 1957 and 1960, and worked for nearly four decades at the firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, specializing in commercial disputes. Clinton appointed him as a district judge in 1998 and since 2011 he has held the status of senior judge, which allows him to continue to be active in select cases with a lighter workload.

Hellerstein has handled cases such as the mass litigations for damages after the September 11, 2001 attacks and proceedings against senior financial executives, as well as others related to former Venezuelan officials, including Hugo ‘El Pollo’ Carvajal.

Meanwhile, the SDNY, which will lead the first procedural acts against Maduro -although the US president, Donald Trump, hinted that the trial could also take place in Florida- is one of the most influential courts in the country, with jurisdiction over Manhattan and Wall Street and competence in cases of terrorism, international drug trafficking, financial fraud and organized crime. The court has historically been the scene of media trials, such as those held against drug trafficker Joaquín 'el Chapo' Guzmán, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, or former producer Harvey Weinstein.

The same judge who handled the case in 2020

Hellerstein was already in charge of the Maduro case since March 2020, when the original indictment was filed, which allowed him to become familiar with the evidentiary framework and the arguments of the Prosecution. It is expected that at Monday's hearing in Manhattan the judge will formally read the charges and define the first steps of the process, ensuring that the substitute indictment, made public last Saturday, is processed under his supervision.

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This expanded indictment reiterates the charges against Maduro, the main defendant for narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine, conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to use those weapons. For the first time, the accusation includes Cilia, whom the Prosecution points out for her alleged involvement in the coordination of meetings and the logistics of the network. According to prosecutors, his incorporation broadens the scope of the case and supports the hypothesis that drug trafficking was part of a network organized from the highest levels of Venezuelan power.

Other defendants who are not in the US

Among the other defendants - who are not on US soil - is Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra, son of the president, for his alleged involvement in the coordination of cocaine shipments and in the use of state resources for such purposes. Completing the list are Diosdado Cabello Rondón, Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace of Venezuela; Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, former Minister of Interior and Justice and former governor; and Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias 'Niño Guerrero', identified as the leader of the transnational criminal organization Tren de Aragua. Hellerstein noted in a May 2025 ruling on the Alien Enemies Act that "the Tren de Aragua may be engaged in drug trafficking, but that is a criminal matter, not an invasion or predatory incursion", pointing out that the presence of criminal groups does not exempt the court from guaranteeing a fair trial. Washington, for its part, has asserted that high-ranking officials linked to this investigation are related to the so-called Cartel de los Soles, a term used by its authorities to describe alleged links between the Venezuelan regime and drug trafficking.