Donald Trump just paid millions in one of his most high-profile civil cases. The former president’s legal battle with E. Jean Carroll reached a significant financial milestone this week.
The $5.6 million payment comes after a jury verdict and failed Supreme Court appeal
President Trump paid writer E. Jean Carroll $5.6 million after a federal jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation, The New York Times reported on July 14. The jury determined Trump sexually abused Carroll in a Manhattan department store during the 1990s. He then defamed her by dismissing her accusation on social media.
The funds had remained in a court-supervised escrow account during Trump’s appeals. Carroll’s legal team received the disbursement last week, according to an update on the federal court docket. The original 2023 jury award of $5 million grew to $5.625 million with accumulated interest.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Trump’s final appeal attempt last month without citing a reason. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan then ordered the release of funds to Carroll. He wrote that Trump had “been stalling this case for years.”
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, confirmed the payment in a statement. She said they were “pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her as a result of that verdict.” Aaron Harison, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team, called the case a “Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll hoaxes.”
Carroll, 82, originally filed her lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan. Trump, 80, has consistently denied knowing Carroll or abusing her. He continued attacking the case on Truth Social after the Supreme Court’s decision.
A separate federal case involving Carroll’s allegations against Trump remains unresolved. In 2024, another Manhattan jury ordered Trump to pay her $83.3 million for defamation. His lawyers have indicated he may seek Supreme Court review of that verdict as well.
