E. Jean Carroll Receives Damages from Trump in Lawsuit

E. Jean Carroll has received a significant payment from a legal battle with former President Donald Trump. Carroll secured over $5.6 million in a sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit, as confirmed by both court records and her legal team. The payment reflects the $5 million jury award plus accrued interest. This sum was transferred from an escrow account where it had been held since the 2023 verdict.

Attorney Roberta Kaplan expressed satisfaction with the payment’s completion and stated, “We are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment.” Despite the verdict, Trump’s legal team has shown intent to appeal the decision further.

Following the jury’s ruling against Trump, he placed the funds in escrow. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the civil verdict, enabling Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to authorize the release of the payment. Trump’s attorneys attempted to obstruct this action through an emergency order, which was ultimately denied without restrictions on Carroll’s use of the funds. Her legal representatives indicated that Carroll plans to invest the money in a retirement account.

The lawsuit emerged after a jury determined that Trump assaulted Carroll in 1996 within a department store dressing room. He was also found to have slandered her after she publicly shared her account in a 2019 memoir. Carroll brought the suit against Trump following New York’s legislative revisions, granting sexual abuse survivors renewed legal recourse for historical incidents.

In response to the allegations, Trump refuted Carroll’s claims, stating, “Totally lying” and “not my type.” He distanced himself from her, citing a photograph from 1987 as irrelevant, and suggested her legal actions were politically motivated.

Trump abstained from the trial, during which Carroll recounted the incident, portraying it as an encounter that turned violent. Carroll’s legal actions were supported by a recent New York law amendment that allows survivors to pursue older claims.

Carroll received additional damages in separate defamation proceedings, with Trump appealing an $83 million compensation verdict from a 2024 trial involving brief testimony from Trump.