Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who oversaw 9/11, Trump, Maduro cases, dies at 92

Molly Crane-Newman and John Annese, New York Daily News on Oct 28, 2026

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NEW YORK — Manhattan Federal Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein, the veteran jurist who presided over sprawling cases involving 9/11, President Donald Trump and the recent prosecution of deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, died Wednesday. He was 92.

Hellerstein’s death was confirmed by Edward Friedland, the district executive in the Southern District of New York, where Hellerstein spent almost three decades on the bench, overseeing a wide range of cases following his appointment by President Bill Clinton in 1998.

Hellerstein died surrounded by his family, court officials said.

“Judge Hellerstein was an insightful and dedicated lawyer who, following a distinguished career in the private sector, served with distinction for over 25 years as a distinguished jurist of this court,” Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain said in a statement.

“He presided over the massive tort litigation arising from the September 11 attacks with sensitivity, fairness and efficiency, as well as many other high-profile matters. His energetic and dedicated service to this Court continued until his death. He is greatly appreciated and will be sorely missed.”

After receiving his doctorate from Columbia Law School in 1956, Hellerstein, a native New Yorker, clerked in the SDNY for a year before going on to serve in the U.S. Army, JAG Corps, as a first lieutenant from 1957 to 1960.

He worked in private practice — becoming a partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, and, ultimately, co-head of the litigation department — from 1960 until Clinton appointed him to the bench.

The judge, who oversaw the extensive litigation that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, was lauded for his compassion by people sickened by the toxic air at ground zero in 2010 after he refused to sign off on a meager payout offer, which Hellerstein said fell far short of what was rightfully owed.

“I will not preside over a settlement that is based on fear or ignorance,” the judge said.

Hellerstein was presiding over the ongoing narco-trafficking case against Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who appeared before Hellerstein just two weeks ago, hit with new charges alleging a repression campaign in which scores of people, including three Americans, were tortured. Maduro vexed the no-nonsense judge by using his plea hearing to condemn the charges, with Hellerstein cutting him off and entering a not-guilty plea on his behalf.

The jurist oversaw an array of cases involving Trump the citizen and Trump the president.

He thrice blocked Trump’s bid to move his criminal hush money case to federal court, which would have positioned Trump to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn his conviction for falsifying business records.

First shooting down the request in 2023, Hellerstein wrote that hush money doled out to women, including porn star and producer Stormy Daniels, was an issue unrelated to the presidency.

“The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was … purely a personal item of the president — a coverup of an embarrassing event,” the judge wrote.

“Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a president’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the president’s official duties.”

In 2020, Hellerstein ordered Michael Cohen sprung from jail after finding the feds had locked him up again after his release in retaliation for the ex-Trump fixer’s plans to write a tell-all book.

Reached for comment Wednesday, Cohen said, “Judge Hellerstein’s career was incredible. Judicious, nonpartisan and Solomonic, that is how I hope he is remembered. I wish I could have shaken his hand and thanked him for helping give me my life back.”

The judge was presiding over a number of cases against the second-term Trump administration.

In the spring of 2025, as the Trump administration sought to deport Venezuelan migrants in New York custody en masse to a notorious detention facility in El Salvador without notice or a hearing, Hellerstein criticized the policy as inhumane, saying, “These people are being thrown out of the country because of tattoos.”

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