June 2027 trial date proposed as ousted Venezuelan president due back in Manhattan court
Federal prosecutors and defense lawyers for ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores are seeking a June 2027 trial date in their narco-terrorism and drug trafficking case, according to a court filing Tuesday.
Ahead of a court appearance scheduled for Wednesday, prosecutors and defense lawyers laid out a proposed schedule for pre-trial motions, the turnover of classified evidence and the trial date.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein could lock in a schedule as early as Wednesday during the previously scheduled court conference.
In addition to the June 2027 trial date, both sides proposed that Maduro’s lawyers file their motion to dismiss the case based on sovereign immunity by September, with oral argument scheduled for November. Maduro’s other pretrial motions would be due in January.
According to the filing, prosecutors have already turned over the bulk of the non-classified evidence in the case, and would turn over most of the classified materials by November.
Both sides reserved the right to request to delay the trial, and prosecutors noted that the schedule might shift if they have issues with some of the classified evidence.
Maduro and Flores last appeared in court in March, where his lawyers unsuccessfully pushed to have the case thrown out because the Treasury Department had blocked the Venezuelan government from paying Maduro's defense lawyers.
Defense lawyers have since withdrawn their motion to dismiss the case after the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control in April began allowing Maduro and Flores to receive money from Venezuela to pay for their attorneys.
In January, the U.S. carried out a military operation in Venezuela to capture and bring Maduro and his wife to the United States to face charges including narco-terrorism and drug trafficking. Federal prosecutors accuse Maduro and Flores of conspiring with drug cartels to facilitate the flow of thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States.
"I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country," Maduro told the court during his arraignment in January.
While Maduro and Flores have awaited trial in a federal detention facility in Brooklyn, their home country has been grappling with a humanitarian disaster following a pair of powerful back-to-back earthquakes in June, killing at least 5,278 people.
The Trump administration has rapidly warmed up its ties with Venezuela under acting President Delcy Rodríguez, restoring diplomatic relations and loosening sanctions on the country.
Last week, President Donald Trump, in a primetime address to the nation, accused Maduro's regime of rigging Venezuela's 2020 elections using tools Trump alleged could be applied in the United States.
The documents released by the White House contradicted those claims, concluding that the country lacks the ability "to manipulate the outcome of an election outside of Venezuela in a predictable fashion."
The federal case against Maduro does not include any allegations related to rigging elections, instead centering on claims that he conspired with traffickers to allow the flow of drugs into the U.S.
