Alvin K. Hellerstein, a Manhattan federal judge whose nearly three-decade career on the bench included presiding over high-profile legal battles involving Donald Trump, former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and long-running litigation stemming from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has died. He was 92.
Hellerstein passed away Wednesday morning surrounded by his family, according to a statement from Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who remembered him as a distinguished jurist dedicated to public service.
Just two weeks prior to his death, Hellerstein presided over the arraignment of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on torture charges added to an ongoing narco-terrorism conspiracy case. Maduro and Flores had been captured in January during a U.S. military raid in Caracas. During proceedings, when Maduro twice defied requests to enter a plea, Hellerstein intervened to enter a not-guilty plea on his behalf. Although battling a voice issue during an October bail hearing for Flores, the judge remained resolute in his plan to oversee their trial next June. Federal Judge Analisa Torres is taking over the case.
A New York native and Columbia Law School graduate, Hellerstein served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps and worked as a Manhattan litigator before President Bill Clinton appointed him to the federal bench in 1998. He maintained a robust docket after moving to senior status in 2011, continuing his service until his death.
Among his final significant rulings, Hellerstein issued a decision in August rejecting President Trump’s bid to move his hush money conviction to federal court and dismiss it on presidential immunity grounds. It marked the third time Hellerstein denied Trump’s removal requests, following initial indictment challenges and a subsequent Supreme Court ruling regarding official presidential acts. In 2020, Hellerstein also ordered the release of Trump’s estranged former lawyer Michael Cohen from prison, ruling that the Justice Department revoked Cohen’s home confinement in retaliation for his plans to publish a book and speak to the media.
Hellerstein’s legacy was deeply shaped by his two-decade oversight of wrongful death, injury, and property damage lawsuits following the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. Showing empathy to victims’ families, he met with them for hours and rejected settlements he deemed insufficient. In March 2010, he famously rejected a proposed $575 million settlement for workers who fell ill from toxic trade center ash, noting that the historic nature of the tragedy warranted exceptional judicial scrutiny.
His courtroom docket also included the 2024 criminal conviction of startup founder Charlie Javice for defrauding JPMorgan Chase of $175 million, the conviction of hedge fund founder Bill Hwang for market manipulation, and a 2025 civil trial ordering French bank BNP Paribas to pay nearly $21 million over its dealings with the Sudanese government. Known for an independent streak, Hellerstein maintained strict courtroom discipline, including requiring pandemic-era masks long after other judges had dropped the practice.
Hellerstein’s funeral is scheduled for Thursday at Riverside Memorial Chapel in Manhattan.
