E. Jean Carroll Receives $5.8 Million From Trump: What the Court Ruling Means
A federal court in Manhattan has released more than $5.6 million that Donald Trump owes E. Jean Carroll following her successful 2023 sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit against him, court records show.
A July 14 entry on Carroll’s court docket shows the money was released from a court-held account on July 9, a day after U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered that the funds be disbursed. Trump had been trying to block the release of the money since June, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined on June 29 to hear his appeal. He has continued to deny any wrongdoing. However, the disbursement comes as a major blow to Trump now.
Major Blow for Trump
whitehouse.gov
“Three years ago, a unanimous nine-person jury found President Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E Jean Carroll. Today, we are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her as a result of that verdict,” Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s lead lawyer, said in a statement.
After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s appeal, Carroll’s legal team quickly asked the judge to authorize the release of the funds. Trump’s lawyers sought additional time to respond to the request, but the judge declined it.
Trump’s lawyers have said they will continue challenging the ruling through the courts.
While Trump’s appeals were pending, both sides had agreed that he would deposit the jury award into the court’s Registry Investment System (CRIS), which serves as an escrow account for money awarded in legal cases.
The arrangement ensures that if a defendant ultimately loses on appeal, the funds are immediately available to the prevailing party and cannot be withheld through further legal or financial maneuvers.
Shortly after the jury returned its verdict, Trump placed the award in an escrow account while pursuing his appeals.
Trump Fails to Convince Court
Under the agreement between Carroll‘s and Trump’s attorneys, the money was to be released if certain legal milestones were met, including the U.S. Supreme Court declining to hear Trump’s appeal.
Before the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, Trump had already failed in several attempts to overturn the judgment. His lawyers argued in court filings that Carroll’s legal team had misread the agreement and maintained that the money should remain in the court’s Registry Investment System (CRIS) while he sought reconsideration from the Supreme Court.
In a separate 2024 trial, another federal jury in Manhattan awarded Carroll $83.3 million over defamatory statements Trump made about her while serving as president.
Both verdicts stemmed from a 2019 New York magazine article that featured excerpts from Carroll’s book, What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal, in which she alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of a luxury New York department store roughly three decades earlier.
