Judge orders release of $5 million Carroll award despite Trump objection
A Manhattan federal judge rejected Donald Trump’s request to keep the money on hold while he seeks Supreme Court reconsideration.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
A federal judge in Manhattan ordered the court clerk to release money Donald Trump posted after E. Jean Carroll won a $5 million civil verdict against him, Bloomberg reported. The ruling matters because it allows Carroll to collect while Trump seeks another chance at the Supreme Court after losing his appeal there.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan issued the order Wednesday, directing the release of the $5 million deposit plus interest, according to Bloomberg. Carroll’s lawyer has said the amount now totals $5.77 million, Bloomberg reported.
The money stems from a May 2023 jury verdict in Carroll’s lawsuit against Trump. Bloomberg reported that the jury found Trump sexually abused Carroll in 1996 and defamed her in 2022 when he denied her allegation.
Trump seeks another review
The Supreme Court on June 29 left the jury’s findings in place, according to Bloomberg. Trump then asked the justices on July 6 to reconsider that decision, a step Bloomberg described as unusual.
Trump argued that the case was not final while the reconsideration request remained pending, Bloomberg reported. Kaplan rejected that position and cited the terms of a 2023 agreement between Trump and Carroll, along with the Supreme Court’s refusal to take up Trump’s appeal, according to Bloomberg.
Kaplan did not provide an extended explanation for the order, Bloomberg reported. The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether it will revisit its rejection of Trump’s appeal.
Less than an hour after Kaplan’s ruling, Trump filed notice that he would ask the federal appeals court in Manhattan to review the order, Bloomberg reported. That filing sets up another round of litigation over whether the money should be released before the Supreme Court acts on his reconsideration request.
Arguments over the payout
Trump’s lawyer argued in a Tuesday filing that releasing the funds would violate the June 2023 agreement under which the court held the money during the appeal, Bloomberg reported. The filing said Trump could suffer “irreparable harm” because Carroll had indicated she planned to give the money away, according to Bloomberg.
Trump’s lawyer also argued that the money might not be recoverable if the Supreme Court later changed course and the verdict were thrown out, Bloomberg reported. Bloomberg noted that Trump has a net worth of $7.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team issued a statement that did not address Kaplan’s order but called Carroll’s case a “hoax,” Bloomberg reported. Trump, 80, denies assaulting Carroll and has argued that the Manhattan civil trial included improper evidence, including testimony from two other women who accused him of sexual assault, allegations he also denies, according to Bloomberg.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.