Maduro’s legal team is challenging the prosecution on a threshold issue tied to sanctions—asking the court to dismiss the case because, they argue, U.S. actions have prevented funds from Venezuela from being used to pay his attorneys. In Manhattan federal court, attorney Barry Pollack filed papers supporting a motion to toss out the indictment, saying the block amounts to an unconstitutional deprivation of the opportunity to mount a defense. Pollack’s filing made the argument in terms of due process and the ability to secure representation at the center of the criminal case.
Pollack said the U.S. government has blocked funds that would be used for Maduro’s legal costs, even though the Venezuelan government is the entity his lawyers say is required by Venezuelan law and practice to cover those fees. In court papers submitted Thursday, Pollack wrote that “Mr. Maduro, as Venezuela’s head of state, has both a right and an expectation to have legal fees associated with these charges funded by the government of Venezuela,” according to the filing. Pollack added that the dispute threatens the fairness of any trial that proceeds under those conditions.
The submission included a declaration from Maduro, in which he said he understands that Venezuelan laws and practices entitle him to have the government of Venezuela pay for his legal defense. Maduro’s declaration said, “I am entitled to have the government of Venezuela pay for my legal defense,” and he said he has relied on that expectation and “cannot afford to pay for my own legal defense.” The declaration also said Maduro has been working with Pollack on his defense and that Pollack is his counsel of choice, with the declaration signed “President Nicolas Maduro Moros.”
Pollack’s filing described a sanctions authorization process connected to Venezuela’s ability to pay legal expenses. He told the court in an email last week that the U.S. Treasury Department blocked authorization for legal fees that, Pollack said, Venezuela is required to pay for Maduro. Pollack said the Office of Foreign Assets Control granted permission on Jan. 9 approving the payment of legal fees by the Venezuelan government, and then rescinded the authorization “without explanation” less than three hours later, according to his court filing. Pollack argued the change undermines Maduro’s constitutional rights and the court’s obligation to ensure a fair trial.
In the motion papers, Pollack wrote that “The conduct of the United States government not only undermines Mr. Maduro’s rights but also this Court’s mandate to provide a fair trial to all defendants who come before it in accordance with the protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution,” and he added that the government is allowing some commerce with Venezuela while prohibiting counsel from receiving “untainted funds” from the Venezuelan government for the defense. Pollack said any trial moving forward under those circumstances “will be constitutionally defective and cannot result in a verdict that will withstand later challenge,” according to the Thursday submission.
Maduro’s effort to dismiss the indictment arrives alongside a wider legal fight over his prosecution in the United States. The case stems from a 25-page indictment that accuses Maduro and others of collaborating with drug cartels and members of the military to facilitate cocaine shipments into the United States. The indictment also says that, as part of the alleged conspiracy, Maduro and his wife ordered kidnappings, beatings and murders of people who owed drug money, and it says the conduct included the killing of a local drug boss in Caracas.
Maduro and his wife have been in custody in New York since they were seized from their Venezuelan home in early January in a U.S. operation described by the Associated Press as a stealth nighttime deployment. Maduro and his wife have pleaded not guilty. The AP reported last week that Pollack said that if the judge leaves the charges in place, he wants to resign so the court can appoint other counsel to represent Maduro.
The dispute over legal fees is intertwined, Pollack and the filing suggest, with U.S. policy toward Venezuela. The court fight takes place in the context of U.S. ties being cut with Maduro’s government in 2019, when the Trump administration recognized the then-opposition leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly as the legitimate president. The Biden administration maintained a similar approach, according to the Associated Press account.
The U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a message left by The Associated Press seeking comment.