New York justice on Monday, March 25, eased the financial pressure on Donald Trump by reducing his bail in civil proceedings to $175 million, but refused to further postpone his historic criminal trial, which will begin on April 15.
Indicted in four criminal cases and already sentenced to very heavy fines in two civil trials, the real estate magnate and Republican candidate in the November presidential election, welcomed the decision of the Court of Appeal of New York on his bail. “I deeply respect the decision of the appeals court and I will deposit $175 million in cash, bonds or stocks, or whatever is necessary, very quickly, within ten days,” the person said at the time. of a break in the hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court for the case of hidden payments in 2016 to an adult film actress.
The court on Monday gave 10 days to Donald Trump, sentenced to $454 million in fines with his sons Eric and Don Jr., for financial fraud within their real estate empire Trump Organization, to raise this amount.
He previously had until Monday to provide a guarantee that he would pay the 454 million in order to suspend, while the appeal is examined, the judgment of New York judge Arthur Engoron on February 16 which also prohibits Trump father and son to run their businesses in New York for three and two years. The three men risked having their real estate assets seized and their bank accounts frozen by local Attorney General Letitia James who took them to court in October 2022.
Trial postponed for a month
Donald Trump once again attacked Judge Engoron and prosecutor James on Monday, whom he systematically accuses of bias against him. But Judge Juan Merchan quickly made it clear that he did not intend to grant a new postponement of the trial, which was initially scheduled to begin Monday, for payments before the 2016 presidential election to a former porn star, Stormy Daniels, with whom Donald Trump allegedly had an extramarital affair in 2006.
“The prosecution has gone well beyond its obligations, it is strange that we are here” to discuss a new deadline, the judge told Donald Trump’s lawyers, after postponing the trial until mid-April , following the recent addition to the file of thousands of pages of documents. He finally set April 15 as the new date for this historic judicial first for a former American president, punishable by four years in prison. “The court concludes that the prosecution has complied and continues to comply with its obligations with regard to the disclosure of evidence,” said Judge Merchan in the reasons for his decision.