Judge in Trump hush-money case delays ruling on scrapping conviction

A New York State judge has paused proceedings in president-elect Donald Trump's already decided criminal case on charges stemming from hush money paid to an adult film star, a document made public on Tuesday showed.

Judge Juan Merchan had been set to decide by Tuesday whether Mr Trump's conviction could be vacated due to the Supreme Court's decision in July on presidential immunity. Mr Merchan has delayed his ruling in the case until November 19. Mr Trump had been scheduled to be sentenced on November 26.

According to emails filed in court, Mr Trump's lawyer Emil Bove asked for the delay at the weekend, arguing that putting the case on hold – and then ending it altogether – is “necessary to avoid unconstitutional impediments to President Trump's ability to govern”.

Prosecutors agreed to the delay. Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office sent Mr Merchan an email on Sunday asking him to pause proceedings due to Mr Trump's November 5 election victory and inauguration in January 2025. Mr Trump had asked the office to agree to the delay, prosecutors wrote. “The people agree that these are unprecedented circumstances,” they wrote.

A jury convicted Mr Trump in May of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. The payout was to buy her silence about claims she had an affair with Mr Trump.

The president-elect has denied any wrongdoing and has claimed the case was politically motivated.

His criminal conviction was a first for any former president and left him facing the possibility of punishment from a fine or probation to up to four years in prison.

About a month after the verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents cannot be prosecuted for actions they took in the course of running the country, and prosecutors cannot cite those actions even to bolster a case centred purely on personal conduct.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Andor

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Judge in Trump hush-money case delays ruling on scrapping conviction

A jury convicted president-elect in May of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 payment to adult film actress during his 2016 White House campaign

Andor

David Haye record