An elite American lawyer with a reputation for overturning monumental legal battles now stands at the centre of one of the most geopolitically charged trials of the decade. Barry J Pollack, the Washington, D.C.-based defence attorney currently representing ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a federal narco-terrorism prosecution in Manhattan, has carved a rare niche in U.S. legal history by winning some of the nation's most daunting and politically sensitive cases.
Pollack's selection by Maduro, a figure indicted by the US Department of Justice on accusations including cocaine trafficking, money laundering, and narco-terrorism, signals an aggressive legal strategy that will test centuries-old doctrines of sovereign immunity and international law.
