Judge overseeing Maduro trial dies

Alvin Hellerstein, a longtime federal judge who was set to oversee the criminal trial of deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro died on Wednesday. He was 92.

Hellerstein’s death was confirmed by the court’s chief judge, Laura Taylor Swain, who called him an “insightful and dedicated lawyer.”

“His energetic and dedicated service to this Court continued until his death. He is greatly appreciated and will be sorely missed. Our deepest sympathies are with his family at this sad time,” Swain said in a statement.

Nominated by then-President Clinton in 1998, Hellerstein oversaw many high-profile disputes during his nearly three decades on the bench in New York City.

He was back in the national limelight presiding over the proceedings for Maduro , who was captured and brought to the U.S. earlier this year over accusations of narco-terrorism. Maduro and his wife were in the judge’s courtroom less than two weeks ago to plead not guilty to a new set of criminal charges.

Before the Maduro operation, Hellerstein had long clashed with President Trump in court.

The judge at one point agreed that Trump’s fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen could be released from prison to home confinement. Cohen has cast his prosecution as retribution by Trump.

Separately, Hellerstein repeatedly denied Trump’s efforts to move his hush money criminal prosecution into federal court, forcing the president to try his luck in New York’s state system.

And well before Trump took the presidency, Hellerstein was in the spotlight in the legal fallout of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Hellerstein oversaw the federal lawsuits filed in New York City against the owners of the World Trade Center, the city, airlines and airport security firms.

More recently, Hellerstein was assigned a civil lawsuit implicating disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein. The judge rejected an eight-figure proposed settlement between Weinstein and women who accused him of sexual abuse.

A graduate of Columbia College and Columbia Law School, Hellerstein worked in the military justice branch of the U.S. Army before spending nearly three decades in private practice, according to his online biography.