NEW YORK — Writer E. Jean Carroll has received more than $5.6 million from U.S. President Donald Trump in satisfaction of a 2023 civil judgment after years of legal appeals, according to federal court records and statements from her attorney.
The payment, totaling about $5.625 million with accrued interest, was released from a court-supervised account after U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan authorized the disbursement. The funds had been held while Trump pursued appeals of the verdict.
A Manhattan federal jury in May 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and for defaming her by denying her allegations. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages. The case was civil rather than criminal, and the jury found liability under the applicable civil standard of proof.
Trump has consistently denied Carroll's allegations, maintained that he did not assault her, and characterized the lawsuits as politically motivated. His legal team sought to prevent the release of the funds while continuing efforts to challenge the judgment, but those requests were rejected after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in the case.
"Three years ago, a unanimous nine-person jury found President Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E. Jean Carroll," Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement confirming receipt of the payment. "Today, we are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her as a result of that verdict."
According to court filings, the money was transferred to Carroll's legal team after Judge Kaplan concluded that Trump had exhausted the legal avenues necessary to delay payment of the 2023 judgment. The payout represents the original damages award plus interest accumulated while the funds remained in escrow.
The payment resolves only the 2023 judgment. Trump continues to appeal a separate January 2024 civil defamation verdict in which another Manhattan jury ordered him to pay Carroll more than $83 million for statements made after she first publicly accused him of the assault. That judgment remains subject to ongoing appellate proceedings.
