E. Jean Carroll has collected her $5 million judgment against President Donald Trump, more than three years after a jury found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming her, court records show.
The money, which was being held in a court escrow account, has been “disbursed” to Carroll’s attorneys, the court filing shows. The amount totaled $5,625,005.48 with interest.
“We are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her as a result of that verdict,” Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, confirmed in an emailed statement.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement that “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. President Trump will keep winning against Liberal Lawfare, as he continues to focus on his mission to make America Great Again.”
The case arose from a 2022 suit Carroll filed in New York alleging Trump sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store after a chance encounter in 1996, and then defamed her after she came forward with her claims in 2019. Trump maintains he does not know Carroll and didn’t commit any wrongdoing.
A jury found Trump liable in 2023 and awarded Carroll $5 million, but the money remained in the court fund while Trump filed various appeals.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the money to be turned over to Carroll earlier this month, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Trump’s bid to hear his appeal.
The president’s attorneys unsuccessfully tried to block the disbursement, arguing their client faced “unrecoverable loss” once Carroll collects because she “has repeatedly stated that she intends to give away all funds that she collects from him” and said that “once those funds are distributed to third parties, they likely cannot be recovered.”
In a filing to the appeals court last week, Carroll’s attorneys said the money isn’t going anywhere, at least for the time being.
“Carroll plans to use the money from this Judgment to fund her retirement, and will place the award in an interest-bearing account” at least until Trump’s bid to get the Supreme Court to reconsider hearing his appeal is resolved, the filing said.
Her comments previously made about giving the money away “referred to Carroll’s intended use of the separate, $83 million judgment that she obtained against Trump” in a related defamation case, they added.
Trump has asked the Supreme Court to hear his appeal in that case as well.
