E. Jean Carroll Paid $5.6 Million by Trump, Three Years After Jury Verdict

E. Jean Carroll has been paid. Court records confirm $5,625,005.48 was disbursed from a court-controlled escrow account on July 9, closing out a payment fight that dragged on for three years.

The money breaks down simply: $5 million in jury-awarded damages plus post-judgment interest that piled up while Donald Trump exhausted his appeals, according to a court filing reported by CNBC. Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, confirmed the payment in a statement carried by BBC, CNBC, CBS News and PBS: "Three years ago, a unanimous nine-person jury found President Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E. Jean Carroll. Today, we are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her as a result of that verdict."

How we got here

A federal jury in Manhattan sided with Carroll in May 2023, finding Trump liable for sexually abusing her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s and for defaming her in a 2022 Truth Social post. The jury rejected her separate rape claim under New York's specific legal definition, according to CBS News, but found for her on sexual abuse and defamation after deliberating under three hours.

Trump didn't show up to that trial. His attorneys called no witnesses.

He deposited the $5 million with the court's registry investment system shortly after the verdict, an arrangement that functioned like escrow while he appealed, according to the Guardian. That system meant Trump never controlled the money directly, so he couldn't hold it hostage through financial maneuvering. But the deal also specified conditions under which the money would be released, including a Supreme Court refusal to hear his appeal.

That refusal came June 29, when the Supreme Court declined to take up Trump's case, according to BBC and CBS News. Carroll marked the moment on her Substack blog: "WE WON! THIS WIN IS FOR EVERY WOMAN IN THE WORLD!"

Trump's team tried to keep fighting anyway

Even after the Supreme Court's rejection, Trump's lawyers didn't fold. They asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its own decision not to hear the appeal, and asked for more time to respond to Carroll's push for payment, according to the Guardian. Judge Lewis Kaplan denied the delay request, noting Trump "has been stalling this case for years," per CNBC.

The same day, a federal appeals court in New York denied Trump's request to block the payout altogether. Money moved out of escrow to Carroll's legal team the following day, July 9.

Trump's team has called the underlying case a "hoax" and a "Witch Hunt" funded by Democrats, according to BBC, and has argued Judge Kaplan improperly admitted evidence that biased the jury. A federal appeals court already reviewed that claim and found no errors warranting a new trial. Those are the strongest arguments Trump's side has made publicly: that the trial process was tainted and the verdict shouldn't stand. No court that has reviewed the case has agreed.

What's still unresolved

A separate Manhattan jury in January 2024 awarded Carroll $83.3 million in a second defamation case, tied to comments Trump made about her while he was president. A federal appeals panel already denied one Trump appeal of that verdict, according to BBC, but PBS reports Trump's attorneys have vowed to keep fighting it at a lower appeals court. That money has not been paid out.

Carroll's lawyers say she plans to put the newly released funds into a retirement account, according to PBS, which reported the court's release order set no conditions on how she can use the money.

Carroll, now 82, first went public with her allegation in a 2019 memoir excerpt published in New York magazine. She sued after New York state passed a law giving sexual abuse survivors a revived window to bring claims over decades-old incidents. In a Tuesday note to Substack readers reported by CBS News, Carroll thanked her legal team by name, including a pointed thank-you to Alina Habba, one of Trump's former defense attorneys in the case.

The $83.3 million defamation judgment remains tied up in appeals, with Trump's legal team pursuing delay tactics similar to those that stretched the first payment out for three years.