In the fraud trial against Donald Trump in New York, the former US President provided a guarantee of 175 million dollars (around 160 million euros). This means that the due payment of a total fine of around 450 million US dollars is initially suspended until there is a further decision in the case, as US media consistently reported, citing court documents.
Trump is also averting the confiscation of his assets to pay off his debts. If the verdict against Trump is confirmed, he will have to pay the entire amount. If he wins the case, he will get the deposit he has already paid back.
In February, Trump, who wants to be re-elected US President in November, was sentenced to a fine of more than $350 million in the fraud trial. With interest, the total amount due is now more than $450 million. A 30-day deadline for depositing the money expired a week ago. An appeals court gave Trump another ten days to pay the fine and reduced the bail amount to $175 million. It had long been unclear whether Trump would be able to raise the money in time.
In the civil lawsuit, Trump, his sons and employees were accused of manipulating the value of the Trump Organization for years in order to get cheaper loans and insurance contracts.
There is also a fuss about the hush money process
The judge in the upcoming hush money trial against Trump has further restricted the former US president’s public statements after he attacked the lawyer’s daughter on social media. Trump’s statements served no legitimate purpose and constituted an attack on the rule of law itself, Judge Juan Merchan wrote in his order, as US media consistently reported.
The ex-president criticized Merchan’s daughter, who worked as a consultant for the Democratic Party, on his social media network Truth Social and called her a “Trump hater.” As a result, the judge himself is biased against him. Merchan also reportedly banned public comments about the family of prosecutor Alvin Bragg. His office had therefore asked the judge to take action against the ex-president’s statements.
A spokesman for Trump criticized the order on CBS News as unconstitutional. It prevents the Republican from expressing himself politically. Last week, Judge Merchan had already restricted the 77-year-old’s public statements about witnesses, jurors and judicial employees. The trial is scheduled to begin on April 15.
Trump, who wants to be re-elected to the White House for the Republicans in November, is accused in the hush money case of, among other things, falsifying business documents. The background to the case is that in 2016, shortly before his election as president, he paid $130,000 in hush money to porn actress Stormy Daniels. She had claimed that she had had sex with him.
Trump denies an affair, but does not deny that money was flowed. Non-disclosure agreements between two parties are not illegal in the United States. However, Trump is accused of illegally recording the payments and trying to conceal them illegally.
