• DandomRude@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Yes, but why no criminal lawsuit as well? Defrauding people for hunderts of millions of dollars sure sounds like a offence to me that could/should lead to criminal charges. I don’t get how this would not be obvious now that a judge already has found Trump guilty in a civil lawsuit.

    • PsychedSy@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      Different standards of evidence, for one. The same evidence may not prove his guilt based on criminal statutes.

      • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        That’s clear. If I understand it correctly, all it would take is a public prosecutor to bring criminal charges. Even if the criminal case against Trump in this fraud case ended in an acquittal, the civil judgment would still stand. I’m just trying to understand what the prosecution’s thinking might be. Perhaps that they wanted to wait for the civil trial first in order to have a better chance with the jury in a criminal trial (even if the jury should in theory decide completely impartially, someone who has already been convicted of fraud will probably seem less credible). Another consideration could be related to the strange fact that an acquittal in the US prevents a retrial of the same case (as far as I know). Either way, it’s all rather strange, I think.