Judge clears E Jean Carroll to collect $5.8m from Trump
A federal judge ordered release of the jury award and interest after the Supreme Court declined to take Trump’s appeal in the Carroll case.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
A federal judge has cleared writer E Jean Carroll to collect more than $5.8 million from Donald Trump after the US Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal, Al Jazeera, Reuters and The Associated Press reported. The order moves the money from a secured award toward Carroll after years of litigation over her sexual abuse and defamation claims against Trump.
US District Judge Lewis A Kaplan ruled Wednesday that Carroll may receive the $5 million a jury awarded her in 2023, plus interest that has built up since the verdict, according to Al Jazeera, Reuters and AP. Carroll’s lawyers had asked the court to release the funds after the Supreme Court on June 29 refused to take up Trump’s challenge.
Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s lawyer, wrote in a court filing that the case had reached “the end of the line” and said Trump should pay Carroll, according to the news organizations. Trump appealed the judge’s order less than an hour after it was issued, they reported.
A spokesperson for Trump’s lawyers denounced the case in a statement, calling it part of what the spokesperson described as “Witch Hunts” and “the Carroll Hoaxes,” according to Al Jazeera, Reuters and AP. Trump has denied Carroll’s allegations and has continued to contest the verdicts against him.
Carroll first made her accusation public in 2019, writing in a memoir that Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1996, the news organizations reported. Trump denied the allegation, said he had never met Carroll, accused her of lying to sell books and for political reasons, and called the claim a hoax, according to their account.
Carroll sued Trump for defamation later in 2019, saying his responses harmed her reputation by portraying her as dishonest and motivated by personal gain, Al Jazeera, Reuters and AP reported. She filed another lawsuit in 2022 that accused Trump of battery, sexual abuse and defamation over a Truth Social post in which he again denied her account and called it a hoax.
In 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and for defaming her through his 2022 statements, according to the news organizations. The jury did not find him liable for rape.
A separate jury in 2024 awarded Carroll $83.3 million over Trump’s 2019 statements, which were made while he was president, Al Jazeera, Reuters and AP reported. Trump is still appealing that judgment and argues that the comments are shielded by presidential immunity.
Trump’s lawyers also asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to reconsider its refusal to hear the appeal tied to the $5 million verdict, according to the news organizations. They argued that Trump would face “irreparable harm” if the funds were released because Carroll has said she plans to donate the money, which they said could make recovery difficult if the verdict were later overturned.
Al Jazeera, Reuters and AP also reported that the Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into whether Carroll committed perjury during her testimony. Carroll’s case against Trump remains active through the remaining appeals over the larger defamation award.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.