The owners of a US funeral home have been accused of spending nearly $900,000 (£723,000) in pandemic relief funds on things such as holidays, cosmetic surgery, jewellery and cryptocurrency.

Jon and Carie Hallford, owners of Return To Nature Funeral Home in Colorado, already face more than 200 criminal charges connected to last year’s discovery of 190 decaying bodies in a bug-infested storage building.

Those charges include corpse abuse, money laundering, theft and forgery, including allegations they gave families dry concrete instead of cremated ashes, collected money for burials and cremations they never provided, and buried the wrong body on two occasions.

Now they face 15 further charges alleging they spent $882,300 (£708,000) in pandemic relief funds on items including two vehicles – a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti worth over $120,000, trips to California, Florida and Las Vegas, $31,000 in cryptocurrency, laser body sculpting, and luxury goods from retailers such as Gucci and Tiffany & Co.

The couple appeared in a federal court on Monday, where the prosecution argued they were a flight risk, having fled to Oklahoma last October after the decaying bodies were found and again before their arrest on state charges in November.

The judge did not decide whether they should be released pending trial, instead scheduling another hearing for Thursday.

The discovery of the 190 bodies, some of which had been there since 2019, shocked the state of Colorado, which has some of the US’s weakest funeral home regulations.

Concerns were raised as far back as 2020 about the business’s improper storage of bodies but regulators did not act, allowing the number of bodies to grow to nearly 200.

It was only after neighbours complained about the smell that authorities looked more closely at the modest 2,500-square foot building in Penrose, about 30 miles south of Colorado Springs.

Since the bodies were discovered, dozens of families have been told the ashes they were given could not have been the remains of loved ones.

Donald Trump described the hush money case against him as an “assault on America” as he arrived at court in New York ahead of his historic trial.

The former US president is accused of criminally altering business records to cover up a $130,000 (£104,200) payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, during his 2016 election campaign.

Ms Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who was paid $150,000 (£120,000), both claim to have had affairs with Trump.

His lawyers say the payment was meant to spare himself and his family embarrassment, not to help him win the election.

Speaking as he arrived at the Manhattan court, Trump said: “Nothing like this has ever happened before. It should never been brought.

“It’s an assault on America. An assault on our country. A country that’s failing.

“It’s an attack on a political opponent, that’s all it is. So I’m very proud to be here.”

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Trump then continued to attack US President Joe Biden and repeated claims that the trial is political persecution, saying: “It’s a country that’s run by an incompetent man who is very much involved in this case.”

Before proceedings began Judge Juan M Merchan denied a request by the defence to recuse himself from the case.

Defence lawyers had renewed a motion from last summer arguing that an interview Mr Merchan gave to the media, his daughter’s work at a political consultancy firm and his daughter’s social media activity created a conflict of interest that merited recusal.

But Mr Merchan said Trump had “failed to provide” evidence of a conflict and instead relied on a “series of inferences [and] innuendos”.

“Defendant’s second motion for recusal is denied,” the judge ruled in court.

He added that he will not yet rule on Trump’s request to skip the trial on 17 May in order to attend his son’s high school graduation.

“It really depends on if we are on time and where we are in the trial,” Mr Merchan said.

The trial begins with the selection of the jury, which Sky News’ US partner network, NBC, said could take up to two weeks because of the large pool of prospective jurors.

Both the defence and prosecution agreed to a “hybrid” approach to the selection process, involving jurors being asked separate questions – one about conflicts with the trial, and another on whether jurors identify as impartial or unbiased.

Mr Merchan said the process – first requested by Trump’s lawyers – would not delay anything.

Around 200 Trump supporters gathered outside the courthouse as well as roughly 40 other individuals who were protesting against the former president.

One group of demonstrators carried a banner that read, “no one is above the law”.

Monday’s proceedings mark the first of four indictments against the former president to go to trial, and is the first to be held ahead of this year’s presidential election.

Trump faces two other criminal trials accusing him of trying to subvert his 2020 election loss to Mr Biden, and another that accuses him of mishandling classified information after he left the White House in 2021.

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He has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. No other former US president has ever faced criminal charges.

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, said he co-ordinated with Trump on payments to Ms Daniels and to Ms McDougal.

Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in 2018 in relation to the payments and was sentenced to three years in prison. He was released into house arrest after one year.

The FBI has opened a criminal probe into the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, according to the Washington Post.

On 26 March, the Dali, a cargo ship, lost power and crashed into one of the supports of the bridge, causing it to collapse.

Video captured the moment the huge structure collapsed into the river, killing six men – all roadway workers who had been on the bridge at the time.

The criminal investigation will be at least partly focused on the Dali cargo ship and if its crew left port knowing it had serious problems with its systems, the US outlet reports, citing two officials.

Salvage crews have since been trying to clear the wreckage.

The remains of the bridge still lie across the cargo ship, blocking the shipping lane.

Following the collapse of the bridge, US President Joe Biden toured the area and saw first-hand efforts to clear away the debris.

He greeted police officers who helped block traffic onto the bridge in the moments before the ship struck, and spoke to the families of the victims.

He also promised the state of Maryland that it wouldn’t be left alone.

Mr Biden said: “I’m here to say your nation has your back and I mean it. Your nation has your back.”

The White House previously said that the current intention is to open a limited-access channel for some barge container ships by the end of April.

By the end of May they hope normal capacity will have been restored to Baltimore’s port.

The bodies of three of the six workers who died have been recovered and the other three are presumed dead.

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