Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who oversaw Trump, Maduro, 9/11 cases, dies at 92
Orthodox Jewish US justice said he would mull fairness of his sentences during Shabbat, spoke extensively about how Judaism influenced his life
NEW YORK — Alvin Hellerstein, a senior US federal judge who oversaw many high-profile cases in nearly three decades on the bench, including matters involving US President Donald Trump and the prosecution of ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, died on Wednesday, according to a published death notice.
Hellerstein, an Orthodox Jew, was 92. He had served on the bench since 1998 and was appointed by former Democratic president Bill Clinton.
The judge’s cases, including the Maduro case, are expected to be randomly assigned to other federal judges. Maduro’s trial is scheduled for next June.
While not the oldest judge serving on the Manhattan court, Hellerstein was a rarity among federal judges for maintaining an active caseload into his 90s, unlike most older judges who handle fewer cases or retire.
Last year, Hellerstein oversaw the trial of Charlie Javice, the founder of an education startup who was convicted of defrauding JPMorgan Chase out of $175 million.
He also presided over the 2024 trial of Bill Hwang, who was convicted of fraud and market manipulation after the collapse of his Archegos Capital Management caused more than $10 billion of losses for banks.
Hellerstein handled multiple cases concerning Trump.
He spurned the Republican president’s effort to erase his May 2024 hush money conviction by moving the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s criminal case to federal court, and having it dismissed based on presidential immunity.
In 2020, during Trump’s first White House term, Hellerstein ordered the release of the president’s then-estranged former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, concluding that the Department of Justice tried to revoke Cohen’s home confinement and return him to jail in retaliation for writing a book.
Many years earlier, Hellerstein presided over the vast majority of civil wrongful death and property damage lawsuits stemming from the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Center.
Reflecting on God
Hellerstein had been outspoken about his need to promote fairness and the impact of his faith on his judicial philosophy.
In a 2020 podcast, Hellerstein said he scheduled sentencing hearings for Fridays so he could reflect during the Jewish sabbath whether the punishments he handed down were fair.
“As a judge, and as a Jew, I consider that everything I do reflects God and affects His image,” he wrote in a 2013 law review article.
He served as chairman and president of the Board of Jewish Education and advocated for Jewish refuseniks in the former USSR, giving a video interview about his work in 2023 to the Refusniks and Activists website.
In 2016, the New York Times ran a feature story about Hellerstein and his weekly tennis match with three rabbis.
A native of New York City, Hellerstein obtained his bachelor’s and law degrees at Columbia University, and later served in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, the legal arm of the US Army.
Hellerstein joined the law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in 1960, and spent 38 years there before becoming a judge.
According to a January 2026 report from The Forward, Hellerstein displayed on the wall of his chambers the verse from the Torah “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof” — “Justice, justice you shall pursue.”