Writer E. Jean Carroll has successfully collected nearly $5.63 million from Donald Trump, following a 2023 jury verdict that found the U.S. president liable for sexually abusing and defaming her, according to court records.
Despite objections from Trump, the funds were released to Carroll’s law firm on Monday — five days after U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan approved the release of money held in a court-supervised account.
The total payment includes the original $5 million civil verdict along with accumulated interest.
This marks the first time Trump has actually been required to hand over money to Carroll. In total, she has won $88.3 million in civil verdicts against the president over the seven years since he first denied sexually assaulting her around 1996 in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan.
Trump has consistently denied Carroll’s allegations, calling them a hoax, claiming he did not know her, and accusing her of fabricating the assault story to boost sales of her memoir. He has also described her legal case as “weaponization and lawfare.” Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down Trump’s appeal of the $5 million verdict.
Following Judge Kaplan’s ruling, a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team repeated an earlier statement: “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.”
Prior to the disbursement, Trump’s attorney had urged a federal appeals court to halt the release of funds, warning that the president would face “irreparable harm” if Carroll followed through on her stated plan to donate the money, since it would likely be unrecoverable. The lawyer argued that Carroll’s assurance that she would instead place the funds in an interest-bearing retirement account was not sufficient, since she could still choose to give the money away.
The $5 million verdict was based on a denial Trump made in 2022, though jurors in that case did not conclude that Trump had raped Carroll. A separate jury in 2024 ordered Trump to pay Carroll $83.3 million, stemming from his original 2019 denial during his first term in the White House. Trump is expected to appeal that larger verdict to the Supreme Court.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan — who is not related to the judge — issued a statement 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.”
