Prosecutor in Nicolás Maduro New York case resigns

According to Contrapunto, which reported on October 2, 2026, federal prosecutor Jason A. Richman, who led the case against Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores in the Southern District of New York, formally asked Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein to be removed from the case because he has left the U.S. Attorney's Office, a departure that took effect on September 25, 2026.

The move comes at a critical moment for the judicial process over alleged narco-terrorism and cocaine trafficking, whose trial is scheduled to begin on June 1, 2027. The resignation of a lead prosecutor less than a year before trial introduces a reorganization within the Department of Justice's prosecution team.

The case is under scrutiny from the defense of Maduro and Flores, which has challenged the legality of the proceedings and the revocation of licenses from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). In the U.S. financial and legal system, OFAC sanctions block the use of funds belonging to sanctioned persons, which in practice prevents or hinders payment of fees to U.S. law firms for their legal representation, requiring specific authorizations that the agency can revoke or deny.

Going forward, the course of the trial will depend on the appointment of a new prosecution team and on how disputes over the funding of the defense are resolved, a key factor in the viability of the defendants' legal representation before the scheduled trial date.

File, 2026 · Photo: Drug Enforcement Administration · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons