NEW YORK — Alvin Ok. Hellerstein, a Manhattan federal decide who presided over issues involving President Donald Trump, former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the 9/11 attacks during practically three many years on the bench, has died.
He was 92.
Hellerstein died Wednesday, according to Edward Friedland, district government for the Southern District of New York federal courts.
No cause of loss of life was instantly supplied.
Alvin Ok. Hellerstein, a Manhattan federal decide who presided over issues involving President Donald Trump, former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has died. Christopher Sadowski
Only two weeks in the past, Hellerstein presided over a Manhattan listening to in the ongoing narco-terrorism conspiracy prosecution of Maduro, who was captured earlier this yr in a shock raid.
President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, appointed Hellerstein to the federal bench in 1998.
He was a district decide until he moved to senior standing in 2011.
Before that, Hellerstein served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps and was a Manhattan litigator.
In the aftermath of the 2001 terror attack on the World Trade Center, Hellerstein presided over dozens of wrongful loss of life, damage, and property injury lawsuits — a two-decade-long effort that formed his legacy on the bench.
Some of the decide’s former shoppers died in the attack and, attorneys say, he confirmed nice empathy to victims and their households, assembly with them for hours in his chambers and rejecting what he felt were low-ball settlement affords.
Others were dismayed when, in 2008, Hellerstein ended an effort to drive New York City authorities to preserve looking out for human stays in particles moved from floor zero to a Staten Island landfill.
Hellerstein died Wednesday, according to Edward Friedland, district government for the Southern District of New York federal courts. Jew In The City
Hellerstein, recognized for a quirky unbiased streak and strict self-discipline in his courtroom, insisted spectators put on pandemic-era masks for more than two years after other judges stopped the follow.
In August, in one of his last vital rulings, Hellerstein again spurned Trump’s effort to erase his hush cash conviction, rejecting the president’s bid to transfer the state courtroom case to federal courtroom and have it dismissed on presidential immunity grounds.
It was the third time Hellerstein denied Trump’s requests to transfer the case.
Hellerstein presided over issues involving the 9/11 attacks during practically three many years on the bench, according to reports. Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The first time was after Trump’s March 2023 indictment; the second adopted Trump’s May 2024 conviction and a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that presidents and former presidents can’t be prosecuted for official acts.
Hellerstein’s newest ruling against Trump came after an appeals courtroom ordered him to rethink his prior determination.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dominated that Hellerstein erred by failing to take into account “important issues relevant” to the president’s request.
Captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrives at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport as he heads towards the Daniel Patrick Manhattan United States Courthouse for an preliminary look, on Jan. 5, 2026. REUTERS
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse Cilia Flores seen in a sketched picture as Judge Alvin Hellerstein presides at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in New York City, on Oct. 15, 2026. REUTERS
However, the appeals courtroom judges said they “express no view” on how Hellerstein should rule.
In 2020, Hellerstein ordered Trump’s estranged former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen launched from jail after the Justice Department revoked his dwelling confinement to thwart his efforts to publish a guide or discuss to the media.
The authorities’s motion, he dominated, was retaliatory and a First Amendment violation.
In 2015, Hellerstein made headlines when he ordered a New York City cable firm to pay a Texas girl $229,500 for flooding her telephone with 153 robocalls.
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