Alvin K. Hellerstein, a Manhattan federal judge who presided over cases involving President Trump, former Venezuelan President Nicolas 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, the AP reports. "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. 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. Now, another judge will be assigned. "We were saddened to learn of Judge Hellerstein's passing and offer our condolences to his family," Maduro's lawyer, Barry Pollack, said.
- Hellerstein, a New York native and Columbia Law School graduate, served as a first lieutenant in the US Army Judge Advocate General's Corps and was a Manhattan litigator before Bill Clinton appointed him to the federal bench in 1998. He kept a robust docket even after moving to senior status in 2011.
- 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 state court 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 Stormy Daniels at the heart of Trump's case. It was the third time Hellerstein had denied Trump's requests to move the case.
- In the aftermath of the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, Hellerstein presided over dozens of wrongful death, injury, and property damage lawsuits in 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.
- Hellerstein's other notable recent 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.
- Hellerstein was known for a quirky independent streak and strict discipline in his courtroom. Lawyers described him as "old school" and unconcerned with what people thought of him. Hellerstein, an Orthodox Jew, once said that he scheduled sentencing hearings for Fridays so he could reflect on his decisions over the Sabbath, Reuters reports. "As a judge, and as a Jew, I consider that everything I do reflects God and affects His image," he wrote in 2013.
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