Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein dies after nearly three decades on the bench

Maduro trial scheduled for June; another judge will be assigned

Alvin K. Hellerstein, a Manhattan federal judge whose cases involved Donald Trump, former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the September 11 attacks, died Wednesday morning at 92 while surrounded by his family, Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain said. His funeral is scheduled for Thursday at Riverside Memorial Chapel in Manhattan. Swain called Hellerstein a “distinguished jurist” and praised his “energetic and dedicated service” to the court. Hellerstein continued that service until his death. “He is greatly appreciated and will be sorely missed,” Swain said.

A New York native and Columbia Law School graduate, Hellerstein served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps and worked as a Manhattan litigator before President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, appointed him to the federal bench in 1998. He moved to senior status in 2011 but maintained a robust docket afterward.

Two weeks before his death, Hellerstein presided over the arraignment of Maduro and Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, on torture charges added to their ongoing narco-terrorism conspiracy case. Maduro and Flores had been captured in January in a surprise U.S. military raid in Caracas. Maduro twice refused Hellerstein’s request that he enter a plea to the charges, prompting the judge to interject that “a plea of not guilty will be entered on behalf of Mr. Maduro.”

At Flores’ Oct. 8 bail hearing, Hellerstein coughed and struggled to speak at times. He told lawyers: “I have a voice problem. As long as you can understand — hear me, I’ll keep going.” He remained resolved to preside over the Maduro and Flores trial, which he had scheduled for next June; another judge will now be assigned. Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, said: “We were saddened to learn of Judge Hellerstein’s passing and offer our condolences to his family.”

In August, in one of his last significant rulings, Hellerstein again rejected Donald Trump’s effort to erase his hush money conviction. He rejected the president’s bid to move the state court case to federal court and have it dismissed on presidential immunity grounds. It was the third time Hellerstein had denied Trump’s requests to move the case. The first denial came after Trump’s March 2023 indictment; the second followed Trump’s May 2024 conviction and a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that presidents and former presidents cannot be prosecuted for official acts.

Hellerstein was forced to revisit the matter after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that he had erred in an earlier ruling by failing to consider “important issues relevant” to the president’s request. The appeals court panel said it expressed “no view” on how Hellerstein should rule.

In 2020, Hellerstein ordered Michael Cohen, Trump’s estranged former lawyer and fixer, released from prison after the Justice Department revoked his home confinement to prevent him from publishing a book or speaking to the media. Hellerstein ruled that the government’s action was retaliatory and violated the First Amendment.

After the 2001 terror attack on the World Trade Center, Hellerstein presided over dozens of lawsuits seeking wrongful death, injury and property damages, an effort that continued for two decades and shaped his legacy on the bench. Some of his former clients died in the attack. Lawyers said Hellerstein showed empathy for victims and their families, meeting with them for hours in chambers and rejecting settlement offers he considered too low.

In March 2010, Hellerstein rejected as insufficient a settlement that would have paid at least $575 million to thousands of people who fell ill while working in the toxic ash of the trade center. He acknowledged that he was breaking with tradition by becoming so involved in the case. “Most settlements are private. A plaintiff and defendant come together, shake hands, and it’s done with,” he explained. “This is different,” Hellerstein said. “This is 9/11.”

In 2008, Hellerstein ended an effort to force the New York City government to keep searching for human remains in debris moved from Ground Zero to a Staten Island landfill. Some others were dismayed by the ruling.

Among his other notable recent cases, Hellerstein presided over the criminal trials of Charlie Javice, who was convicted last year of defrauding JPMorgan Chase of $175 million by exaggerating the customer base for her financial aid startup, and hedge fund founder Bill Hwang, who was convicted in 2024 of securities and market manipulation fraud in a scheme that cost banks billions of dollars.

He also presided over a 2025 civil trial in which a jury ordered French bank BNP Paribas to pay nearly $21 million for giving the Sudanese government access to the U.S. financial system as the government engaged in atrocities two decades ago. In 2015, Hellerstein made headlines by ordering a New York City cable company to pay a Texas woman $229,500 for flooding her phone with 153 robocalls.

Hellerstein was known for a quirky independent streak and strict discipline in his courtroom. He insisted that spectators wear pandemic-era masks for years after other judges stopped the practice. The court said Hellerstein “lived a life of commitment to public service and devotion to his community.” “His example and work ethic will continue to be a model for this court,” the court said.