A federal judge ordered the immediate release of $5.8 million owed to E. Jean Carroll after President Donald Trump exhausted his appeals, including a Supreme Court rejection, in a sexual abuse and defamation case that has stretched across multiple years.
Court Rejects Further Delays
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan directed Wednesday that Carroll receive the $5 million jury award plus $800,000 in accumulated interest from a court escrow account. The 2023 jury verdict found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in 1996 and defaming her when he denied the allegations. Kaplan noted Trump has been stalling the case for years and declared it was time for him to pay the judgment.
The Supreme Court declined last week to hear Trump’s appeal of the award without dissent. Trump’s legal team immediately filed a notice of appeal and requested the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily block the release. His attorneys had sought additional months of delay while asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its refusal, a request rarely granted by the high court.
Arguments Over Irreparable Harm
Trump’s lawyers argued their client faces unrecoverable loss because Carroll, who is 82 years old, has stated publicly she intends to donate the funds to charity. They contended that once distributed to third parties, the money likely cannot be recovered if Trump eventually prevails on appeal. Carroll’s attorneys countered that their client has already waited long enough and noted Trump’s team agreed in 2023 that funds could be released if the Supreme Court refused the case.
Broader Legal Battle
The case originated from Carroll’s 2022 lawsuit alleging Trump sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store dressing room. She first made the allegations public in 2019, but litigation became entangled in presidential immunity disputes for years. A separate defamation case resulted in an $83.3 million jury award in 2024, which a federal appeals court upheld earlier this year. Trump maintains he does not know Carroll and committed no wrongdoing, with his legal team calling the cases Democrat-funded witch hunts.