Nicolas Maduro is seen in handcuffs after landing at a Manhattan helipad, en route to a Federal courthouse in Manhattan on January 5. XNY/Star Max/GC Images/Getty Images/File
Good afternoon beloved Sentients. Well, it takes someone as old as me to connect the dotZ in the lawfare kangaroo court case being tried in New York City. President Nicolas Maduro is being pilloried in the rancidly corrupt US “Justice” system by Trump.
Please read the two links below to get caught up in this disgusting “lawfare” case and I will have concluding comments afterwards:
Nicolas Maduro heads back to court arguing that the US is trying to hamstring his defense | CNN
“Nicolas Maduro, the former president of Venezuela, will to try to convince a federal judge on Thursday that the US government is interfering with his ability to defend against narco-terrorism related charges and the case should be dismissed.
Judge Alvin Hellerstein initially set the hearing to give lawyers for Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores de Maduro time to review evidence and sketch out a schedule for legal motions and potentially set a trial date.
In a twist in the already unusual case, Maduro’s attorney, Barry Pollack, said last month he will need to withdraw, if the US doesn’t allow the government of Venezuela to pay his legal fees.
Maduro and his wife were captured from their presidential compound in Caracas in early January in a stunning overnight US military and law enforcement operation and brought to New York to face charges.
Pollack said the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control granted and then revoked a license permitting the Venezuelan government to pay his legal fees. The Maduros and Venezuelan government are both sanctioned by the US so anybody seeking payment needs to obtain a license to avoid violating US sanctions laws.
The reversal, he said, violates Maduro’s constitutional right to defend against the charges. Flores de Maduro’s lawyer joined the motion. If the judge doesn’t dismiss the case, they are asking for a hearing to explore the government’s decisionmaking.
Prosecutors said the initial license from OFAC was an “administrative error” and they are still permitting the Maduros to access their personal funds in Venezuela to cover their legal expenses.
“OFAC, however, has denied the defendants’ request for an additional exception: to allow them to pay their legal fees from a slush fund controlled by a sanctioned government. That is because OFAC regulations expressly prohibit using a sanctioned entity’s funds to pay a separate sanctioned person’s attorneys’ fees,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing opposing the indictment’s dismissal.
Lawyers say Maduro has an uphill battle.
“Because he is not recognized as the leader of Venezuela and the whole sanctions regime is meant to cut him off, it’s unlikely that the court is going to feel that he’s entitled to any of the money to help fund his criminal defense,” said Duncan Levin, a former prosecutor who specializes in sanctions law.
Maduro would not be left without any representation. Under US law, he is entitled to a court-appointed attorney.
The Maduros have pleaded not guilty to gun and cocaine importation conspiracy charges that prosecutors allege span more than 25 years, and are being held in federal custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Pollack has already signaled that he will challenge the legality of Maduro’s arrest and argue he is immune from prosecution because the alleged illegal conduct occurred while he was president.
Maduro was first elected president of Venezuela in 2013. But the US government, along with dozens of other countries, has not recognized Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela since the 2018 presidential election. This year, following Maduro’s ouster, the US State Department recognized Delcy Rodríguez as Venezuela’s head of state.
In early January, US forces descended on the presidential compound, engaged in an intense firefight with Venezuelan air defenses, and captured Maduro and his wife from their heavily fortified home.
Lawyers say while the capture and arrest of Maduro was extraordinary, US law is well established.
“Under the US Constitution, it’s the president who gets to determine who to recognize as head of state and I am 100% certain a US court is not going to second guess a US determination that Maduro is no longer head of state,” said William Dodge, an international law professor at George Washington University’s law school.
“Snatching him was illegal under international law,” he said, but added “it’s quite well established in the US the illegality of bringing someone into court doesn’t affect the jurisdiction of the court.”
Dodge is also skeptical of Maduro’s claims of immunity for his conduct while he was leading the country.
“Drug trafficking isn’t an official act,” he said.”
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Greencrow continues: But, WAIT, WHAT?! Who is the appointed “judge” in this travesty of justice coming down the pike? None other than the infamous 9/11 judge…the appropriately named Alvin Hellerstein. I thought his name was familiar, then Wikipedia confirmed that he’s the KhaZarian fixer from way back in the days of the 9/11 atrocity. Please review his profile HERE
Now continue to read today’s update from the M$M:
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Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro needs money for his legal defense. A judge could ignite a diplomatic brawl
Judge appears to reject arguments that US sanctions are still a ‘national security and foreign policy’ issue after Trump’s attempted takeover
“A 92-year-old federal judge will decide if Donald Trump’s administration is illegally blocking money for the defense of ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores while the U.S. government refuses to lift sanctions against their country’s government.
Maduro and Flores returned to a federal courtroom in New York City on Thursday wearing prison-issued khaki and orange prison scrubs from a Brooklyn detention center where they have been detained for more than two months after U.S. military forces captured them in Caracas.
They have both pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from allegations they steered a massive cocaine trafficking operation
Attorneys for Maduro and Flores argued that the duo should be allowed to tap into Venezuelan government funds for their defense, but federal prosecutors argue that “national security and foreign policy” interests prevent the U.S. from carving out sanctions that would allow them to pay their attorneys.
“If the purpose of the sanctions is because the defendants are plundering the wealth of Venezuela, it would undermine the sanctions to allow them access the same funds now to pay for their defense,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Wirshba said.
New York District Judge Alvin Hellerstein suggested that the U.S. government’s actions could amount to “potential interference” to their constitutional right to defend themselves.
“I see no national security issue to defend oneself,” Hellerstein said. “What are the interests here?”
He repeatedly suggested that the Trump administration’s attempts to reshape Venezuela’s government and seize its oil have neutralized any alleged national security threat.
Venezuela’s “oil business has become vital,” said Hellerstein, who noted that the Trump administration is invested in securing the country’s oil assets while Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has imperiled global fuel supplies. By capturing and prosecuting the former president and deploying oil companies to the country, “we have changed the situation in Venezuela,” Hellerstein said.
Allegations of human rights abuses that triggered sanctions “are no longer implicated” because the U.S. has now captured the leaders allegedly responsible for them, according to the judge.
“Defendants are here … They present no national security threat,” he said. “The Venezuelan government is no longer implicated in the atrocities we’re talking about. We’ve corrected that.”
The Trump administration is not denying the couple’s access to federal public defenders, but it’s not clear the U.S. will be able to learn where Venezuelan funds are coming from, and if they are “tainted” by illegal proceeds from the alleged trafficking conspiracy at the center of the case, according to Wirshba.
Hellerstein said federal public defenders would be tasked with a sprawling, international case that is going to require a “significant investigative work” and a “great deal of expense,” which would unjustifiably tax their abilities to defend other clients.
Hellerstein repeatedly asked what, if anything, he does have the authority to do.
“We don’t believe a remedy is available to the court,” the prosecutor said.
Wirshba suggested a separate lawsuit could be filed to challenge the sanctions themselves but argued the courts do not have authority to carve out an exemption for Maduro and Flores.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control would have to create a specific license to lift sanctions against Maduro so he can access funds for his defense, but prosecutors say the judge can’t order the office to do so.
Maduro’s defense attorney Barry Pollack, who formerly represented Julian Assange and former Trump ally Paul Manafort, said there is no evidence that potential funds are “tainted” or illegally obtained. He argued that the judge should dismiss the case altogether, which Hellerstein immediately rejected.
“I’m not going to dismiss the case,” he said.
But, he added, “if I find that in this case a specific license was arbitrarily withheld, and the government does not comply, that would be a time of dismissing the indictment.”
“This is a unique case and will take some time,” he said.
Their capture — the culmination of Trump’s months-long pressure campaign to topple Maduro’s government and deploy U.S. oil companies into the country — also resulted in “significant injuries” to Flores, including “severe bruising” and a possible fracture, lawyers said in January.
She is now experiencing issues related to a “mitral valve prolapse” and not receiving adequate care in custody, attorney Mark Donnelly said Thursday. She needs an echocardiogram “after many EKGS,” he said.
Federal prosecutors allege Maduro led a conspiracy to ship drugs from Venezuela to the United States via the Caribbean and Central America using fishing boats and container ships as well as clandestine airstrips and commercial airports protected by “corrupt government and military officials,” according to the indictment.
The defendants allegedly relied on “violent narco-terrorist groups” including various cartels and gangs, including Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration has targeted as part of the president’s vast anti-immigration agenda.
The alleged conspiracy “lines the pockets of Venezuelan officials and their families while also benefiting violent narco-terrorists who operate with impunity on Venezuelan soil and who help produce, protect, and transport tons of cocaine to the United States,” according to the indictment.”
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Greencrow concludes: Folks we all know by know how the KhaZarian-invented “lawfare” [that has destroyed justice throughout the West] works. It’s a matter of using the tactics of delay, deny and destroy the accused–through financial, emotional and social torture and abuse.
Hellerstein is going to play the game–pretending he’s following the “letter of the Law”…until both President Nicolas Maduro and his wife are dead. That’s the plan.
BTW, if Trump thinks the Venezuelans will ever forget this international humiliation–he should perhaps look towards Iraq. It took them 25 years to get out from under the USraeli boot but yesterday they finally did it!
Stay tuned.
Greencrow as the crow flies 