Alvin Hellerstein, judge in Trump and Maduro cases, dies

U.S. federal judge Alvin K. Hellerstein died at the age of 92 in New York City, according to Diario Libre. The magistrate's death was confirmed by the chief executive of the federal courts for the Southern District of New York, and he had presided over several of the country's most significant court proceedings in recent decades.

Over the course of his career, Hellerstein handled litigation linked to the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, where he oversaw claims for damages and compensation. Likewise, weeks before his death, the magistrate presided over a hearing in the criminal case against former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in Manhattan on conspiracy charges.

His court also took direct part in high-profile cases involving former President Donald Trump. Among his most notable rulings, Hellerstein repeatedly rejected Trump's requests to move the state case over payments to the actress Stormy Daniels to federal jurisdiction. Similarly, in 2020 he ordered the release of Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, after determining that the government's revocation of his house arrest was aimed at preventing the publication of a book and amounted to retaliation that violated freedom of expression.

Hellerstein had taken senior judge status in 2011, a designation that allows federal judges in the United States to remain on the bench with a reduced caseload. The senior judge role is key to easing the burden on the federal courts in New York, a district that handles highly complex financial, corporate and national security litigation.

Going forward, the magistrate's death opens the process of reassigning pending cases in the Southern District of New York, among which international criminal proceedings and the judicial follow-on matters that continue in the federal courts stand out.