Nicolás Maduro is beefing up his defense team with one of Diddy's lawyers
The toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's new lawyer, Anna Estevao, also represented Sean "Diddy" Combs in his criminal trial.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters; Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
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Business Insider
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Jacob Shamsian
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Anna Estavao handled the cross-examination of Cassie Ventura at Sean "Diddy" Combs' trial. Now she's representing the former Venezuelan president.
- Nicolás Maduro added Anna Estevao to his criminal defense team.
- She helped Sean "Diddy" Combs win acquittals of top charges in his criminal trial.
- Maduro's lawyer Barry Pollack told BI the firm can handle the "unprecedented situation" of his case.
Nicolás Maduro has a reason to shake his jailfeather.
Anna Estevao, an attorney who represented Sean "Diddy" Combs in his blockbuster criminal trial last year, joined the former Venezuelan president's defense team on Thursday.
The move comes after Maduro's lead attorney, Barry Pollack, joined Estavao's law firm, Harris Trzaskoma LLP.
The boutique litigation firm announced earlier this week that it was bringing on Pollack, best known for representing Julian Assange, and Susan Hoffinger, a renowned trial lawyer who was part of the Manhattan district attorney's prosecution team that won a 34-count fraud conviction of Donald Trump before he was elected president for the second time.
Pollack told Business Insider that he joined the firm because of its stable of "incredible lawyers" who can handle novel legal issues and complex challenges, including in Maduro's case.
"This is a truly unprecedented situation, and there will certainly be a robust defense, and joining this firm is going to give me the resources to assist President Maduro in every way we can," Pollack said.
Estevao played a key role in Combs' Manhattan criminal trial last year, cross-examining his main accuser, Cassie Ventura. The jury acquitted Combs of the most severe charges against him — racketeering and sex-trafficking — but convicted him of two prostitution-related charges. The former hip-hop mogul is appealing his conviction and 4-year sentence.
Estevao told Business Insider that she is excited to work with her new colleagues on high-profile and challenging cases.
Justice Department prosecutors have accused Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, of narco-terrorism and weapons charges. They've both pleaded not guilty.
The court proceedings, overseen by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, have taken place in the same 26th-floor courtroom as Combs' trial. Both Combs and Maduro were also housed in the same federal jail in Brooklyn, though not at the same time.
Theresa Trzaskoma, who cofounded the law firm last year with Estevao, Justine Harris, and Allegra Noonan, told Business Insider that Pollack and Hoffinger were "kindred spirits" with other attorneys at the firm.
"It is exciting to have lawyers who can take on all kinds of cases," she said. "Difficult, hard, challenging cases for high-profile clients and others who are facing really difficult circumstances."
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