Alvin K. Hellerstein, a Manhattan federal judge who presided over cases involving President Donald Trump, former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the 9/11 attacks during nearly three decades on the bench, has died. He was 92.
Hellerstein died Wednesday morning while surrounded by his family, Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain said in a statement. His funeral is scheduled for Thursday at Riverside Memorial Chapel in Manhattan.
Swain remembered Hellerstein as a “distinguished jurist” and praised his “energetic and dedicated service” to the court, which continued until his death.
“He is greatly appreciated and will be sorely missed,” she said.
Just two weeks ago, Hellerstein presided over the arraignment of Maduro and Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, on torture charges that were added to their ongoing narco-terrorism conspiracy case.
Maduro, who was captured alongside his wife in January in a surprise U.S. military raid in Caracas, twice defied Hellerstein’s request to enter a plea. Irked, Hellerstein took matters into his own hands, interjecting 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, telling lawyers: “I have a voice problem. As long as you can understand — hear me, I’ll keep going.” Nevertheless, he was resolute that he’d preside over Maduro and Flores’ trial, which he’d scheduled for next June.
“We were saddened to learn of Judge Hellerstein’s passing and offer our condolences to his family,” Maduro's lawyer, Barry Pollack, said.
Analisa Torres, the judge taking over the case, was part of an international monitoring delegation for Venezuela’s 2006 presidential election, won by Maduro’s late mentor and predecessor, Hugo Chávez. A federal judge since 2013, she previously served on the state bench in Manhattan.
A New York native and Columbia Law School graduate, Hellerstein served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps and worked as a Manhattan litigator before President Bill Clinton appointed him to the federal bench in 1998. He kept a robust docket even after moving to senior status in 2011.
Rulings left Trump’s conviction in place
In August, in one of his last significant rulings, Hellerstein again spurned Trump’s effort to erase his hush money conviction, rejecting the president’s bid to move the case to federal court and have it dismissed on presidential immunity grounds.
“Paying hush money to an adult film star or engaging in a cover-up of an embarrassment are not subsumed in presidential immunity,” Hellerstein wrote, referring to the $130,000 payoff to adult film actor Stormy Daniels at the heart of Trump’s case.
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It was the third time Hellerstein had denied Trump’s requests to move the case. The first time was 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 revisited the matter after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that he erred by failing to consider “important issues relevant” to Trump’s request. The panel expressed “no view” on how Hellerstein should rule.
In 2020, Hellerstein sprang Trump’s estranged former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen from prison after the Justice Department revoked his home confinement to thwart his efforts to publish a book or talk to the media. The government’s action, he ruled, was retaliatory and a First Amendment violation.
‘This is different. This is 9/11.’
In the aftermath of the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, Hellerstein presided over dozens of wrongful death, injury and property damage lawsuits — a two-decade-long effort that shaped his legacy on the bench.
Some of the judge’s former clients died in the attack and, lawyers say, he showed great empathy to victims and their families, meeting with them for hours in his chambers and rejecting what he felt were low-ball settlement offers.
In March 2010, Hellerstein rejected a proposed settlement that would have paid at least $575 million to thousands of people who fell ill working in the toxic ash of the trade center. He acknowledged he was breaking with tradition by getting so involved.
“Most settlements are private. A plaintiff and defendant come together, shake hands and it’s done with,” he said. The judge usually has no part in saying yes or no.
“This is different,” Hellerstein said. “This is 9/11.”
Others were dismayed when, in 2008, Hellerstein ended an effort to force New York City government to keep searching for human remains in debris moved from ground zero to a Staten Island landfill.
High-profile cases until the end
Hellerstein's other notable cases included the criminal trials of Charlie Javice, who was convicted last year of defrauding JPMorgan Chase out 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 at 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 it engaged in atrocities two decades ago. In 2015, Hellerstein ordered a New York City cable company to pay a Texas woman $229,500 for flooding her phone with 153 robocalls.
Hellerstein, known for a quirky independent streak and strict discipline in his courtroom, insisted spectators wear pandemic-era masks for years after other judges stopped the practice.
He “lived a life of commitment to public service and devotion to his community,” the court said in a statement. “His example and work ethic will continue to be a model for this court.”
