WASHINGTON, April 25 -- The United States has agreed to modify its sanctions on Venezuela to allow the South American country's government to pay Nicolas Maduro's defence lawyer, backing off a restriction that had threatened to ‌derail the drug trafficking case against the ousted Venezuelan president, a court filing showed yesterday.

Maduro, 63, and his wife Cilia Flores, 69, were captured from their home in Caracas by US special forces on January 3 and brought to New York to face criminal charges including narcoterrorism conspiracy. They have pleaded not guilty and are jailed in Brooklyn pending trial.

Maduro's lawyer Barry Pollack in February asked Manhattan-based US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein to dismiss the case because U...