Federal prosecutors are expected to bring new charges against former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, for allegedly torturing Americans held in Venezuelan prisons, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The sources said other people could be charged for their roles in the torture of more than a dozen Americans unjustly detained by the Venezuelan government while Maduro was in power.
A source said the new charges could be announced as soon as Thursday.
Barry Pollack, a lawyer for Maduro, told CBS News he had not received any notification that additional charges might be filed.
Flores is scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday in the Southern District of New York for a bond hearing, and a trial date has been tentatively set for June 2027.
CNN was the first to report potential new charges.
A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Maduro and Flores were indicted by a federal grand jury in January on charges stemming from what prosecutors said was his role in a scheme to import “thousands of tons” of cocaine into the United States and enrich himself, their families and top members of the Venezuelan government. THE The US military arrested the couple in a nighttime operation and took them to the United States to face the charges. They pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors said Maduro was at the forefront of corruption and that he and his associates worked with drug traffickers and narcoterrorists to flood the United States with drugs.
Maduro faces four charges: narco-terrorist conspiracy; conspiracy to import cocaine; possession of machine guns and destructive devices; and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
The cases against them were filed in the Southern District of New York, where Maduro and 14 others were first indicted in March 2020, during the first Trump administration.
Maduro and his wife asked U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein to dismiss the drug trafficking charge against them on the grounds that they have immunity as leaders of a foreign country. The judge has not yet heard arguments on those motions.
In September, Alex Saab, former Minister of Industry in Maduro’s government, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering related to an alleged bribery conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with ongoing federal investigations into the scheme after being deported to the United States from Venezuela.
In May, CBS News reported that federal prosecutors in Miami have been ordered to open a new criminal investigation into Maduro, amid concerns that the case against him is weak.
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