American lawyer Barry Pollack accused the Trump administration of not allowing the Venezuelan government to fund his representation of deposed socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro, a report Wednesday indicated.
Pollack, known for having represented Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in the past, is presently representing Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores at the ongoing drug trafficking case in New York presided by District Judge Alvin Hellerstein.
Politico reported that on Wednesday Pollack filed a letter to Judge Hellerstein dated February 20 alleging that the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had granted an exception to the U.S. sanctions on Maduro that allowed the nation’s government to pay for the deposed dictator’s representation fees, but that the license had been amended “less than three hours later,” revoking authorization of the receipt of defense costs from the Venezuelan government.
The lawyer argued that, “Under Venezuelan law and custom, the government of Venezuela pays the expenses of the President and First Lady.”
“Counsel explained that the government of Venezuela has an obligation to pay Mr. Maduro’s fees, Mr. Maduro has a legitimate expectation that the government of Venezuela would do so, and Mr. Maduro cannot otherwise afford counsel,” Pollack wrote.
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He further argued that, “by its failure to allow the government of Venezuela to pay Mr. Maduro’s defense costs, OFAC is interfering with Mr. Maduro’s ability to retain counsel and, therefore, his right under the Sixth Amendment to counsel of his choice.”
Maduro and Flores were arrested in a U.S. law enforcement operation in Caracas on January 3 and are presently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Hours after his arrest, Maduro pleaded “not guilty.”
“I am innocent. I am not guilty,” Maduro said through a translator on January 5. “I am a decent man. I am still president of my country.”
The United States has not recognized Maduro as the legitimate President of Venezuela since 2019 after the now-deposed dictator clung to power by holding a highly fraudulent election in 2018 in which only handpicked “rivals” were able to run against him.
Maduro then sought to extend his hold on power by holding a fraudulent election in July 2024. Although Maduro and the Venezuelan socialist regime claim he “won” the 2024 election, no Venezuelan authority has publicly revealed any documentation or evidence that can substantiate the claimed “victory” at press time. The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia and a majority of Latin American nations do not recognize Maduro’s fraudulent 2024 “victory,” among other countries.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed to members of the Senate Foreign Affairs committee at a January hearing that Maduro was an indicted drug criminal and not the “legitimate president of Venezuela.”
Maduro and Flores are due back in federal court for a hearing on March 26.
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