Trump pays E. Jean Carroll $5.6 million after Supreme Court rejects final appeal in sexual abuse case

Payment completed

President Donald Trump has paid writer E. Jean Carroll $5.6 million after a federal jury found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming her, court records filed Tuesday confirmed. The payment includes the $5 million awarded by a Manhattan jury in May 2023 ($2 million for the assault and $3 million for defamation) plus interest that accumulated over more than three years of appeals. The money had been held in a court-controlled escrow account while Trump's legal team challenged the verdict through the federal court system. The notice added to the online court docket on Tuesday showed the funds were disbursed to Carroll last week.

Today, we are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her as a result of that verdict.

Roberta Kaplan, Carroll's attorney, issued the statement after the court record confirmed the transfer. The White House press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A lawyer from Trump's legal team also declined to comment on the payment.

The original allegations

Carroll, a former magazine columnist now 82, accused Trump of attacking her in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman luxury department store in Manhattan in 1996. She made the allegations public in a 2019 book. Trump denied the accusations and publicly assailed her, calling her a "whack job" who had fabricated a "hoax" or "con job," according to court filings and multiple news reports. Carroll subsequently filed two civil lawsuits in New York. The first covered the assault and initial defamation. The second addressed further defamatory statements Trump made later, including on Truth Social in 2022.

Verdict and appeals

In May 2023, a nine-member federal jury in Manhattan found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, awarding Carroll $5 million. Trump deposited the sum into a court-controlled account shortly after the verdict, and the funds remained in escrow while his legal team pursued appeals through the federal courts. The case ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In late June 2026, the high court declined to hear Trump's appeal, making the 2023 jury verdict legally definitive.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in New York subsequently ordered that the escrowed funds be released to Carroll. The disbursement took place last week, the day after the judge's order. Trump's lawyers had attempted to delay the payment while asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its refusal to hear the appeal. They described the case as a "hoax" and a "Witch Hunt" they alleged was funded by Democrats, according to the BBC.

The second defamation case

A separate defamation lawsuit brought by Carroll went to trial in 2024. That case centred on statements Trump made on Truth Social in 2022, in which he again denied her allegations. The jury in that trial ordered Trump to pay Carroll $83.3 million in damages. That award was upheld by an appeals court, but its execution remains suspended while Trump's attorneys pursue a possible Supreme Court review. His lawyers have said they plan to ask the high court to hear his appeal of that outcome as well. As of Tuesday, no payment has been made in the second case.