A federal judge in Manhattan has barred Nnamdi Kanu’s American lawyer, Bruce Fein, from representing Venezuela’s ousted President, Nicolás Maduro, after ruling that Fein was never authorised by the defendant to act on his behalf.
Delivering the ruling, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein held that Mr Fein lacked the legal standing to appear for Mr Maduro because he had not been retained by the Venezuelan leader.
Mr Fein is also known as a member of the legal team representing Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra.
Recall that Mr Kanu was sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorism-related offences in 2025 and had received multiple visits from Mr Fein at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court and at the State Security Service detention facility.
Following Mr Maduro’s abduction from Caracas to Manhattan to face narco-terrorism charges, several lawyers moved to represent him due to the high-profile nature of the case. Among those who sought to appear for him were Mr Fein, Barry J. Pollack and David Wikstrom.
Mr Pollack represented Mr Maduro during his arraignment at the federal court in Manhattan.
Although Mr Fein managed to appear in court on Thursday claiming to stand in for the Venezuelan leader, Mr Maduro reportedly did not recognise or approve his representation.
This prompted Mr Pollack to file court papers asserting that Mr Fein did not have Mr Maduro’s consent.
According to Mr Pollack, Mr Fein had appointed himself as Mr Maduro’s lawyer without authorisation.
“I confirmed with Mr Maduro that he does not know Mr Fein and has not communicated with Mr Fein, much less retained him,” Mr Pollack stated.
Speaking to The New York Times, Mr Fein said financial gain was not his motivation for attempting to represent Mr Maduro, insisting that “time was of the essence.” He claimed he was contacted by members of the president’s family.
“I received no funds or promises of funds,” he told The Times on Friday. “I was informed that Maduro’s insiders — including brother-in-law — suspected betrayal and trusted no one in Maduro’s hastily arranged initial representation.”
Court records showed that while Mr Pollack formally introduced himself as Mr Maduro’s lawyer on January 5, Mr Fein applied to join the defence team the following day. The judge initially approved the request before Mr Pollack challenged it.
Mr Fein maintained that he acted “in good faith” after being contacted by “individuals credibly situated within President Maduro’s inner circle” and asked the court to privately question Mr Maduro to confirm his account.
Judge Hellerstein, however, rejected the argument, ruling that unidentified third parties could not appoint legal counsel for a defendant.
“Unnamed persons cannot appoint counsel; only a defendant can do so,” Mr Hellerstein said. “If Maduro wishes to retain Fein, he has the ability to do so,” the judge added. “Fein cannot appoint himself to represent Maduro.”
The development mirrors a previous incident involving Mr Fein at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court in November 2021, when Justice Binta Nyako denied him access to the courtroom during Mr Kanu’s trial.
At the time, Mr Kanu appealed to the court to allow Mr Fein entry, alleging that State Security Service operatives had also prevented the lawyer from seeing him in detention.
“I have an ongoing case in the U.S. I have not been allowed to see him (Bruce Fein). He (Mr Fein) is here to see me and to observe proceedings,” Mr Kanu told the court. “He (Mr Fein) has been to the DSS to see me, but they denied him access to me.”
