A U.S. federal judge has scheduled the trial of captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, for June 1, 2027, according to media reports.
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein set the June 1 trial date at the request of lawyers on both sides. Under the approved schedule, defense lawyers will begin filing requests in early September to challenge the indictment and the couple will return to the courtroom Nov. 17 for oral arguments on the motions.
Maduro, 63, and his wife, Cilia Flores, 69, have been held at a Brooklyn jail since U.S. forces seized them from their Caracas home in a middle-of-the-night raid and brought them to New York in early January.
Neither spoke during Wednesday's 15-minute hearing as each sat separately at a defense table, surrounded by their lawyers. Both have pleaded not guilty. They face potential life prison sentences if a jury agrees that they were part of a conspiracy to send cocaine into the U.S.
The lawyers later withdrew the motion after the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control allowed the couple to receive Venezuelan funds for their defense.
U.S. authorities brought Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, to the U.S. following a military operation in Venezuela in January. They face charges including narco-terrorism and drug trafficking, with prosecutors alleging they worked with drug cartels to move thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S.
"I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country,” Maduro said during his arraignment in January.
Maduro and Flores have been held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since their capture.
