US prosecutors added a torture-conspiracy count against Maduro and Flores.
Why it matters: The charge expands the US case over alleged abuses against American detainees. The count carries a statutory maximum of 20 years, but any penalty would depend on conviction and sentencing.
- A superseding indictment filed October 8, 2026, in Manhattan federal court adds the torture-conspiracy allegation as Count Two.
- The five-count case also includes narcoterrorism, cocaine-importation and weapons allegations.
- Prosecutors allege Venezuelan authorities detained and tortured multiple US citizens.
- Maduro's lawyer, Barry Pollack, told The Washington Post that Maduro denies the charges and looks forward to trial.
Federal prosecutors in New York charged former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moros and former first lady Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro with conspiracy to commit torture, expanding an existing case involving narcoterrorism, cocaine-importation and weapons allegations, according to the superseding indictment. Narcoterrorism is alleged terrorism-related conduct linked to narcotics trafficking.
The filing adds the torture allegation as Count Two in a five-count case. The count carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years, not a guaranteed sentence.
Prosecutors allege Maduro and Flores helped operate a system of arbitrary detention, violence and torture to suppress political opposition and preserve their power. The indictment describes alleged methods including electric shocks, simulated drowning, beatings, forced injections, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, isolation, starvation and threats against detainees' relatives.
US citizens were among those prosecutors say Venezuelan authorities detained and tortured. The Justice Department said one American detainee was deprived of food and water, beaten repeatedly, subjected to simulated drowning, shocked in the testicles and forcibly injected.
According to the indictment, Maduro directed or received updates about detainee treatment, including allegedly ordering officials to apply greater pressure to prisoners who remained defiant. Prosecutors also allege Flores participated in meetings about detainees and helped develop or maintain the repression system.
Maduro denies the new charges, his lawyer Barry Pollack told The Washington Post. The defendants are presumed innocent, and the allegations have not been proven at trial. The case is pending in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
By the numbers
- 20 years - statutory maximum penalty for the torture-conspiracy count
- 5 counts - total in the superseding indictment
- 2 - the count number assigned to the torture-conspiracy allegation
Yes, but: The 20-year figure is a statutory maximum, not a sentence the defendants are certain or likely to receive. Any penalty would depend on conviction and sentencing.
What's next: The case remains pending in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.