The Trump administration on Friday rejected a request by former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores to dismiss their US criminal case, NBC News reports.

Last month, Maduro and Flores asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that the US government had improperly prevented them from using Venezuelan state funds to pay for their defense. In its court filing, the Trump administration argued that Maduro and his wife remain free to use their personal funds, including jointly held funds, to pay legal costs, but not money controlled by a separately sanctioned Venezuelan government entity.

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which administers US sanctions against foreign entities, "provided the defendants with an exception to these sanctions: permission to use their personal (and joint) funds to pay for legal counsel," the government statement reads.

"However, OFAC rejected the defendants' request for an additional exception: to allow them to pay legal costs from a charitable fund controlled by a sanctioned government," the agency said.

Maduro's attorney Barry Pollack noted in a court filing last month that OFAC had approved licenses that Maduro and Flores requested in January, needed to authorize money transfers due to Venezuela sanctions. But the government argued that OFAC approved a broader permission due to an administrative error and subsequently amended the licenses.

Maduro and Flores were seized in a US military operation and brought to the US to face criminal charges. They were charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and possession of machine guns and explosive devices. Maduro faces an additional federal charge of conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism.