Judge Orders Trump to Pay E. Jean Carroll $5.8 Million in Rape Case, Now He’s Appealing
A federal judge has ordered that writer E. Jean Carroll receive approximately $5.8 million from President Donald Trump after years of litigation stemming from a civil jury’s finding that Trump sexually abused and defamed her. The ruling marks another legal setback for the president, whose attorneys immediately appealed in an effort to block the payment.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled Wednesday that Carroll is entitled to collect the money that Trump previously deposited with the court while appealing the 2023 verdict. The amount now totals roughly $5.8 million because it includes accrued interest on the original $5 million jury award.
The decision came after the U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear Trump’s appeal of the underlying judgment, effectively allowing the verdict to stand. The dispute dates back to a May 2023 civil trial in Manhattan, where a federal jury concluded that Trump sexually abused Carroll in the mid-1990s inside a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York.
Jurors also found that Trump defamed Carroll after she publicly disclosed the allegations, awarding her $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Under New York law, the jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse, not rape, under the state’s then-applicable legal definition.
To prevent Carroll from immediately collecting while he challenged the verdict, Trump deposited the full amount with the court. Following the Supreme Court’s refusal to review the case, Carroll’s attorneys requested that the funds be released.
Judge Kaplan agreed, writing that the legal conditions governing the escrowed money had been satisfied. As a result, Carroll can now receive the funds unless a higher court intervenes. Trump’s legal team quickly filed an emergency appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit seeking to halt the payment.
His attorneys argued that releasing the money before all remaining legal avenues have been exhausted could cause “irreparable harm” because Carroll might not be able to repay the funds if Trump were ultimately to prevail.
The appeal also points to a separate petition asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision not to hear the case, although such requests are rarely granted. Trump has consistently denied Carroll’s allegations, maintaining that he never assaulted her and has repeatedly argued that the lawsuits are politically motivated.
During the litigation, he also challenged several evidentiary rulings, claiming the trial judge improperly limited his ability to present certain defenses and cross-examine witnesses.
His attorneys have argued throughout the appeals process that those alleged procedural errors warrant overturning the verdict or granting a new trial.
The $5.8 million judgment represents only one of two major civil awards Carroll has won against Trump. In January 2024, a separate federal jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million after finding that Trump repeatedly defamed her through comments he made while denying her allegations after the first verdict. That larger judgment remains under appeal, with Trump seeking review after a federal appeals court upheld the award.
Carroll, a longtime magazine columnist and author, first accused Trump publicly in 2019, alleging that he assaulted her during an encounter in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. Trump denied the accusation and said Carroll fabricated the story. Those denials ultimately became the basis for multiple defamation claims that, combined with the sexual abuse finding, have resulted in nearly $89 million in civil judgments against the president.
