E. Jean Carroll Receives $5.63 Million After Trump Ordered to Pay Damages in Sexual Abuse and Defamation Case

E.Jean Carroll has received nearly $5.63 million from US President Donald Trump after a jury in 2023 found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer, according to court records.

Despite Trump's objections, the money was released to Carroll's law firm on Monday, five days after US District Judge Lewis Kaplan authorised the disbursement from a court-supervised account.

The payment represents the original $5 million civil damages award, together with accrued interest.

It is the first time Trump has been required to pay Carroll. Over the past seven years, she has secured civil judgments totalling $88.3 million against the President after he repeatedly denied her allegation that he sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan around 1996.

Trump has consistently dismissed Carroll's allegations as a hoax, denied knowing her, claimed she fabricated the assault to promote her memoir, and described the legal proceedings as an example of "weaponisation" and "lawfare". Last month, the US Supreme Court declined to hear Trump's appeal against the $5 million verdict, allowing the judgment to stand.

Responding on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Trump's legal team repeated a statement issued after Judge Kaplan's ruling, saying: "The American people stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the witch hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll hoaxes."

Trump Warned of 'Irreparable Harm'

Last week, Trump's lawyer asked a federal appeals court to halt the release of the funds, arguing that the President would suffer "irreparable harm" if Carroll followed through on her stated intention to donate the money, as it would likely be impossible to recover the funds should Trump ultimately succeed on appeal.

The lawyer also argued that Carroll's assurance that she would instead place the money in an interest-bearing retirement account did not eliminate that risk, as she could still choose to dispose of the funds later.

The 2023 jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages over statements Trump made in 2022 denying her allegations. While jurors found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, they did not conclude that he had committed rape under the legal standard applied in the case.

In a separate case, another jury in 2024 ordered Trump to pay Carroll $83.3 million for defamatory statements he made in 2019 during his first term in the White House. Trump is expected to ask the Supreme Court to review that judgment.

Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to Judge Kaplan, welcomed the payment, saying: "Three years ago, a unanimous nine-person jury found President Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E. Jean Carroll. We are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her."

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