Private lawyers seeking to represent Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in his U.S. drug-trafficking case failed to get assurances Monday that they’ll get paid, leaving the Mexican drug lord’s defense in limbo.

During a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan told the lawyers that if they took the case, there was no guarantee that prosecutors wouldn’t later seize their fees if they could show that the money came from his estimated $14 billion in drug profits.