Hellerstein dies at 92 after Maduro plea
The Manhattan federal judge, who recently handled the arraignment of the former Venezuelan leader and the Trump hush money case, died Wednesday morning.
By Andrew Yang ·
Alvin K. Hellerstein died Wednesday morning at age 92. He served nearly 30 years as a federal judge in Manhattan. His final docket included high-profile cases involving President Donald Trump and former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain confirmed the death in a statement. She described Hellerstein as a distinguished jurist who provided energetic service until his final days. His funeral is set for Thursday at Riverside Memorial Chapel in Manhattan.
Two weeks before his death, Hellerstein presided over the arraignment of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. They faced added torture charges within a narco-terrorism conspiracy case. Maduro was captured in a US military raid in Caracas in January. He had previously defied the judge’s request to enter a plea.
During the arraignment, Hellerstein interjected to state that a not guilty plea would be entered on behalf of Maduro. At a bail hearing for Flores in early October, the judge struggled with a voice problem. He told lawyers to keep going as long as they could hear him. He planned to preside over their trial scheduled for next June.
In August, Hellerstein ruled against Trump’s effort to move his hush money case to federal court. This was the third time he denied that request. The first denial followed the March 2023 indictment. The second followed the May 2024 conviction and a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity. The Second Circuit had previously told him to reconsider the issues.
In his August ruling, Hellerstein wrote that paying hush money is not covered by presidential immunity. The case centered on a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Earlier in 2020, he released Michael Cohen from prison. He ruled that the Justice Department’s revocation of home confinement violated the First Amendment.
Hellerstein also managed the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks for two decades. He handled dozens of wrongful death and property damage suits. In 2010, he rejected a $575 million settlement for people ill from toxic ash. He called the case different from typical private settlements because it involved 9/11.
The judge also presided over the trials of Charlie Javice and Bill Hwang. Javice was convicted last year of defrauding JPMorgan Chase of $175 million. Hwang was convicted in 2024 of securities fraud. In 2025, a jury ordered BNP Paribas to pay nearly $21 million in a civil trial regarding Sudanese government access to US finance. Analystisa Torres, who was part of an election monitoring delegation in Venezuela in 2006, is taking over the Maduro case.
