The United States has authorized Venezuela to pay the legal defense of detained former president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores under modified sanctions licenses, according to court documents filed Friday in New York.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued amended licenses allowing Venezuelan government funds to cover attorney fees, reversing a prior blockade that Maduro’s defense argued violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
The licenses specify that payments must come from Venezuelan government funds available after March 5, 2026, the date the U.S. And Venezuela formally restored diplomatic relations following Maduro’s January 3 capture.
Funds cannot originate from Venezuelan oil sales regulated in the United States or from Foreign Government Deposits, a restriction reiterated across all three sources.
Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, were seized in Caracas by U.S. Special forces and remain held separately in a Brooklyn maximum-security prison on narcoterrorism and cocaine import conspiracy charges.
Both have pleaded not guilty; Maduro describes himself as a “prisoner of war.”
The defense had previously sought dismissal of the case, asserting that blocking payment for counsel of choice constituted constitutional overreach.
In a March 26 hearing, Judge Alvin Hellerstein expressed skepticism toward the government’s national security justification, noting the couple no longer posed a threat after transfer to U.S. Custody.
He suggested sanctions might be outdated given the post-capture shift in U.S.-Venezuela relations, though he did not dismiss the case.
Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, confirmed in his Friday letter to the court that the Treasury had issued the modified licenses under specific conditions.
The defense acknowledged the sanction exemption and withdrew its motion to dismiss, at least temporarily.
Since Maduro’s removal, interim authority has fallen to former vice president Delcy Rodríguez, while U.S. Officials oversee Venezuelan oil revenues deposited in Washington-supervised accounts.
No trial date has been set, with proceedings expected to remain in pretrial phase for one to two years.
Why the U.S. Shifted on blocking Maduro’s legal payments
The change follows judicial pressure and diplomatic recalibration after Maduro’s capture, with the Treasury responding to defense claims that sanction-era restrictions no longer aligned with current realities.
What the defense gained from the license modification
Maduro’s legal team secured the ability to fund its case using Venezuelan state resources, removing a central argument for case dismissal while accepting the conditional framework.
How the court views the national security rationale now
Judge Hellerstein indicated the original security justification may no longer apply, given the defendants’ incarceration and lack of ongoing threat, though he upheld the case’s continuation.
What are the specific conditions for Venezuela to pay Maduro’s lawyers?
Payments must leverage Venezuelan government funds available after March 5, 2026, and cannot come from oil sales regulated in the U.S. Or Foreign Government Deposits.
Has the case against Maduro and Flores been dismissed?
No. The defense withdrew its motion to dismiss after acknowledging the sanction exemption, but the case remains active.
When might the trial start?
The formal trial is not expected to start for one to two years, as pretrial proceedings continue.