Wander Franco's sex abuse trial has been postponed 5 months

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Wander Franco's sex abuse trial has been postponed 5 months

2024-12-13 01:46 Last Updated At：01:52

PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic (AP) — The trial against Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco, who has been charged with sexually abusing a minor, sexual and commercial exploitation against a minor, and human trafficking, was postponed on Thursday and scheduled to resume June 2, 2025.

Dominican judge Yacaira Veras postponed the hearing at the request of prosecutors because of the absence of several key witnesses in the case. Only three out of 31 witnesses arrived to the hearing on Thursday.

Franco’s lawyers asked the court to reconsider the postponement, arguing Franco must report to spring training in mid-February.

“There is no case against Wander, for as many witnesses as they present, there is no case now,” Franco's lead lawyer Teodosio Jáquez told The Associated Press after the hearing.

The judge replied that Franco is obligated to continue with the trial schedule and his conditional release from detainment.

The 23-year-old shortstop said that his career is not over yet, that he wants justice to be done and that “everything is in God's hands.”

Franco was a little upset when reporters ask him if his MLB career was over.

“I did not had a career," he said implying that he still has it. "This is not over.”

Franco was in the midst of his third major league season when his career was halted in August 2023. He agreed to an 11-year, $182 million contract in November 2021.

Tampa Bay placed him on the restricted list on July 10, cutting off the pay he had been receiving while on administrative leave.

Documents that prosecutors presented to the judge in July and were viewed by the AP alleged that Franco, through his mother Yudelka Aybar, transferred 1 million pesos (about $17,000) to the mother of the minor on Jan. 5, 2023, to consent to the abuse. The mother of the minor has been charged with money laundering and is under house arrest.

Prosecutors say the minor’s mother went from being a bank employee to leading an ostentatious life and acquiring assets using the funds she received from Franco. During raids on the house of the minor’s mother, prosecutors say they found $68,500 and $35,000 that they allege was delivered by Franco.

In a separate case that happened in November, Franco was also charged with illegally carrying a gun in his vehicle during an altercation in a parking lot in the Dominican Republic countryside.

This story has been corrected to remove an erroneous reference to Franco not being allowed to leave the Dominican Republic.

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Stock market today: Wall Street stalls as indexes drift near records

2024-12-13 01:36 Last Updated At：01:40

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are drifting Thursday following some potentially discouraging data on the economy.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.2%, potentially on track for its third loss in the last four days. That would count as a stumble amid a big rally that’s carried the index toward the close of one of its best years of the millennium.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 71 points, or 0.2%, as of 12:32 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.3% from its record set the day before.

A report earlier in the morning said more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than expected. A separate update, meanwhile, showed that inflation at the wholesale level, before it reaches U.S. consumers, was hotter last month than economists expected.

Neither report points to imminent disaster, but they tug at one of the hopes that’s driven the S&P 500 to 57 all-time highs so far this year: Inflation is slowing enough to convince the Federal Reserve to keep cutting interest rates, while the economy is remaining solid enough to stay out of a recession.

Of the two reports, the weaker update on the job market may be the bigger deal for the market, according to Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley. A surge in egg prices may have been behind the worse-than-expected inflation numbers.

“One week doesn’t negate what has been a relatively steady stream of solid labor market data, but the Fed is primed to be sensitive to any signs of a softening jobs picture,” he said.

Traders see it as a near-certainty that the Fed will cut its main interest rate at its meeting next week. If they’re correct, it would be a third straight cut by the Fed after it began lowering rates in September from a two-decade high. It’s hoping to support a slowing job market after getting inflation nearly all the way down to its 2% target.

Lower rates would give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments, but they could also provide more fuel for inflation.

A cut next week would have the Fed following other central banks, which eased rates on Thursday. The European Central Bank cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point, as many investors expected, and the Swiss National Bank cut its policy rate by a steeper half of a percentage point.

Following its decision, Switzerland’s central bank pointed to uncertainty about how U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s victory will affect economic policies, as well as about where politics in Europe is heading.

Trump has talked up tariffs and other policies that could upend global trade. He rang the bell marking the start of trading at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday to chants of “USA.”

On Wall Street, Adobe fell 12.6% despite reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company gave forecasts for profit and revenue in its upcoming fiscal year that fell a bit shy of analysts’.

Warner Bros. Discovery soared 14.6% after unveiling a new corporate structure that separates its streaming business and film studios from its traditional television business. CEO David Zaslav said the move "enhances our flexibility with potential future strategic opportunities,” raising speculation about a spinoff or sale.

Kroger rose 3.3% after saying it would get back to buying back its own stock now that its attempt to merge with Albertsons is off. Kroger’s board approved a program to repurchase up to $7.5 billion of its stock, replacing an existing $1 billion authorization.

In stock markets abroad, European indexes held relatively steady following the European Central Bank’s cut to rates.

Asian markets were stronger. Indexes rose 1.2% in Hong Kong and 0.8% in Shanghai as leaders met in Beijing to set economic plans and targets for the coming year.

South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.6% for its third straight gain of at least 1%, as it pulls back following last week’s political turmoil where its president briefly declared martial law.

In the bond market, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to 4.31% from 4.27% late Wednesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, rose to 4.17% from 4.16%.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.