US will not allow Venezuelan government to pay Maduro's legal fees, lawyer says

Venezuela's captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores attend their arraignment with defense lawyers Barry Pollack and Mark Donnelly to face U.S. federal charges including narco-terrorism, conspiracy, drug trafficking, money laundering and others, at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., January 5, 2026 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

NEW YORK, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The ⁠U.S. is blocking the Venezuelan government from paying for Nicolas Maduro's legal representation ⁠in the drug trafficking case he faces in New York, the deposed Venezuelan ‌president's defense lawyer said on Wednesday.

Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores both pleaded not guilty on January 5 to drug trafficking charges that could land them in U.S. prison for decades. They are jailed in New ​York awaiting trial.