**US federal prosecutors in Manhattan have advanced a high-profile case against ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, captured by US forces in a January 2026 raid and held in Brooklyn detention since then.** The original 2020 narco-terrorism and cocaine-trafficking indictment was expanded in early October 2026 with conspiracy-to-torture charges involving American citizens and opponents. Maduro and his wife face decades or life in prison if convicted on all counts at the June 2027 trial. Defense motions challenging immunity have been opposed by prosecutors, who note the new Venezuelan interim government has not asserted protections. Traders appear to weigh the lengthy pretrial process, potential plea or diplomatic resolutions, and litigation risks against the accumulating evidence and mandatory minimum sentences, positioning no prison time as the slim plurality outcome while still assigning meaningful probability to lengthy incarceration.