Maduro and wife face US court amid dispute over legal fees

A motorcade carrying former Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro arrives at a detention centre (Stefan Jeremiah/AP)

Former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife have appeared in a New York courtroom as they seek to have their drug trafficking indictments thrown out over a geopolitical dispute over legal fees.

The defence and prosecution argued over whether Maduro should be allowed to use Venezuelan government funds to pay for his defence.