Nicolas Maduro has roots in Manhattan
USA TODAY’s Kathryn Palmer reports from Manhattan after Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro maintains his innocence after being detained by the U.S. military.
Barry Pollack, the prestigious lawyer who reached an agreement with US authorities to free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who had been held in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and a British prison for more than 15 years, was hired by ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
What qualities did Polak have that helped him express what would become one of the trials of modern history? Chambers USA described Mr. Pollack as a “thorough and thoughtful lawyer” who “lives, breathes, and sleeps trials and appears to be a natural in front of a jury.” Mr. Chambers also said, “Barry is a very client-focused person. He is an excellent lawyer, very intelligent, and takes on difficult cases.”
Mr. Pollack is currently leading a defense team that tests two important limits of the U.S. legal system: immunity for foreign leaders and the legality of extraterritorial capture.
In an interview with law magazine Lawdragon, Pollack predicted that international drug trafficking would intensify under Donald Trump’s administration.
“With the current administration, so many statements have come out so quickly that I think everyone is trying to predict what that will mean in the coming months and years. If the administration does follow through on some of the early statements, it looks like there will be cuts in a number of areas. The Justice Department seems to want to focus primarily, if not exclusively, on cartels, but I expect there will be areas where the law will continue to be enforced, such as cross-border drug trafficking, tax fraud and domestic official corruption, but that’s not going to stop.
The prominent lawyer emphasized that the relationship he has with his clients is one of mutual trust and honesty.
“I think some lawyers try very hard to persuade their clients to do what they think is best for them.I believe that it is their clients who have to make decisions because it is their life and they live with the consequences of those decisions. That’s why I try to be very honest with my clients. I tell them straight up, ‘Here’s what I think is the strength of this case. Here’s what I think is the weakness of this case.’ ”And I leave it to the client to make a decision with a full understanding of the risks they accept. Each client has their own risk tolerance, which guides decision-making.
Who is Barry Pollack? What does his record say about:
With more than 30 years of experience, Pollack is a partner at Harris, St. Laurent & Wechsler, where he has defended executives, senior officials, and corporations in complex cases. He has won notable acquittals and reversals of wrongful convictions, including in cases related to the collapse of Enron. He has also represented former Central Intelligence Agency employees and won millions of dollars in compensation for wrongfully convicted people.
His reputation, supported by Chambers USA and criminal law professional organizations, suggests a thorough advocacy focused on procedure and the limits of federal power. “The United States has an extraordinary vision for global jurisdiction,” Pollack said in a previous interview. These words foreshadow the future discussion.
Pollack graduated magna cum laude from Indiana University in 1986 and from Georgetown University School of Law in 1991, where he was awarded the Order of the Coif. He clerked for the Honorable Thomas A. Flannery in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Earlier in his career, Pollack served as a deputy federal public defender for the District of Maryland and was a partner at Miller, Cassidy, Larocca & Lewin LLP in Washington, D.C., specializing in white-collar crime criminal defense.
What role did Pollack play in the Assange case and why is it important now?
Assange’s defense was a master class in criminal law with global implications. The case centered on whether U.S. law can criminalize the publication of classified information and the extent to which the First Amendment applies when journalism conflicts with national security. After months of negotiations, Pollack reached an unusual deal in 2024. Assange was released from a British prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information.
The agreement, which involved a visit to the Northern Mariana Islands and immediate return to Australia, demonstrated Pollack’s stamp of strategic negotiation, accurate reading of political risk, and surgical management of the process. That experience is important today because the Maduro case also has international implications and legal precedent that goes beyond a single defendant.
What are the charges against Maduro, and what kind of argument is the defense preparing?
The federal government’s charges are persuasive. The four counts allege that Mr. Maduro was the mastermind of a conspiracy to introduce cocaine into the United States in coordination with armed guerrillas, drug cartels, and international criminal networks. At his arraignment hearing, Mr. Pollack announced that there would be a bitter legal battle over what he called his client’s “military abduction.”
Defenses could be based on two axes: questioning the legality of the capture and claiming immunity as head of state. Both paths face obstacles. The US government has not recognized Maduro as the legitimate leader since 2019, following an election deemed fraudulent by the US and other countries. Additionally, U.S. courts rarely dismiss criminal cases based on how a defendant entered the country. Still, the discussion is expected to be long and technical.
contribution: Reuters
Boris Q’va is a national Spanish language trends news reporter for Connect/USA TODAY Network. You can follow him on X as @ByBorisQva or write to him at BBalsindesUrquiola@gannett.com.
