Writer E. Jean Carroll has received nearly $5.63 million from US President Donald Trump after a jury found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming her in a 2023 civil case. The payment includes the original $5 million verdict along with accrued interest.
Court records show the funds were released to Carroll’s law firm on Monday. Earlier, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan approved the disbursement from a court-supervised account despite objections from Trump’s legal team.
The payment marks the first time Trump has been required to compensate Carroll. Since he first denied her allegations seven years ago, Carroll has secured civil verdicts totaling $88.3 million against the president. She accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan during the mid-1990s.
Trump has consistently denied the allegations. Moreover, he has said he never knew Carroll and described her claims as fabricated to promote her memoir. He has also labelled the lawsuits as politically motivated. Last month, the US Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s appeal of the $5 million verdict, allowing the judgment to stand.
Meanwhile, Trump’s legal team attempted to block the release of the funds before the payment. His lawyer argued that the president would suffer irreparable harm if Carroll donated the money because recovering the funds later would be difficult. Although Carroll reportedly assured the court she planned to place the money in an interest-bearing retirement account, Trump’s lawyers maintained their objections.
The 2023 jury awarded Carroll $5 million after finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation based on statements he made in 2022. However, jurors did not find him liable for rape under New York law.
In a separate 2024 civil case, another jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $83.3 million for defamatory statements he made during his first presidential term. Trump is expected to continue appealing that verdict before the US Supreme Court.
