Alvin Hellerstein, Judge in Maduro, 9/11 Cases, Dies at 92

(Bloomberg) -- Veteran federal judge Alvin Hellerstein, who oversaw cases against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Archegos Capital Management family office founder Bill Hwang and litigation over the 9/11 terrorist attack, died at 92. 

The Jewish Center, a synagogue in Manhattan, notified congregants that Hellerstein, a longtime member and trustee, had died. The US District Court for the Southern District of New York said the the judge passed away Wednesday morning, surrounded by family.

“Judge Hellerstein was an insightful and dedicated lawyer who, following a distinguished career in the private sector, served with distinction for over 25 years as a distinguished jurist of this court,” Chief Judge Laura Swain said in a statement. “His energetic and dedicated service to this court continued until his death.”

Hellerstein, a native New Yorker, served in the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps before joining New York City law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP in 1960. He was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1998. 

Since then, he has overseen high-profile white collar prosecutions and complex litigation. Most recently, he was overseeing the narco-terrorism case against Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. 

The couple are scheduled to face trial in June. New judges will be assigned at random to the Maduro case and the other cases Hellerstein was overseeing.

During his early years on the bench, Hellerstein built his reputation overseeing yearslong litigation related to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In 2010, he rejected a settlement for 10,000 rescue and cleanup workers who fell ill working at Ground Zero because the payouts may have been too small after attorney fees were taken out. Months later, Hellerstein approved a $712 million pact well over the original proposal. 

In a separate case, he ruled against families seeking to recover human remains from the 9/11 debris. 

In the courtroom, the Columbia Law School graduate was famous for interrupting lawyers who weren’t questioning witnesses to his satisfaction or losing the jury’s attention. 

In the 2024 criminal trial of Hwang, whose family office meltdown caused chaos across Wall Street, Hellerstein interrupted the questioning of a witness to announce the birth of his great-grandchild. “It’s a gorgeous baby,” remarked Hellerstein as he turned his phone to bemused lawyers in the courtroom. The jury erupted in applause. 

In the same trial, he chided a lawyer for boring the jury to tears. 

‘Just and Measured’

He sentenced Hwang to 18 years in prison, a decision that the judge never took lightly.

In rare public comments, Hellerstein, an Orthodox Jew, has spoken about how his faith intersected with his work. He told a podcast in 2020 that he held sentencing hearings on Fridays so he could used Sabbath to reflect on the consequences of his decisions.

“I never ever have had the feeling that my punishment was just and measured,” he said. “And that’s good. I think a judge should be disconcerted with what he does. I’m taking away the liberty of someone.” 

In recent years, Hellerstein oversaw trials involving Charlie Javice, the start-up founder convicted of defrauding JPMorgan Chase, as well as a human rights case against BNP Paribas. 

Roger Stavis, the head of Mintz & Gold’s white collar defense practice, who’s tried cases before Hellerstein, recalled him having a sense of humor that made him likeable even when Stavis was losing. 

‘Dayenu’

In one hearing in Hellerstein’s courtroom in lower Manhattan, Stavis recalled objecting to the prosecution introducing the same evidence over and over. The judge shot back at Stavis, asking him to identify the legal precedent on how many times is too many. 

“I said ‘United States v. Dayenu’ — the Hebrew term for it would have been enough — and he started cracking up,” Stavis said.