President Donald Trump has officially paid more than $5.6 million to writer E. Jean Carroll after exhausting legal efforts to block the release of damages awarded in her sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit, bringing one phase of the closely watched legal battle to a close.
Court records show the payment of $5,625,005.48, including accrued interest, was transferred on July 9 from a court supervised escrow account where the money had remained since a New York jury delivered its verdict in 2023. The Independent first highlighted the payment, while court filings reviewed by The Associated Press and Reuters confirmed the transfer.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said the payment fulfills the damages awarded after a unanimous nine member jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll.
“We are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her,” Kaplan said in a statement.
The payment comes after the US Supreme Court declined to review Trump’s appeal, allowing US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to authorize the release of the escrowed funds. Trump later sought emergency relief from a federal appeals court, but that request was denied.
Carroll acknowledged receiving the money in a post on her Substack page, writing that “the eagle has landed.”
The dispute stems from Carroll’s allegation that Trump sexually assaulted her inside a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan during the mid 1990s. Trump consistently denied the accusation, maintained that he never assaulted Carroll and argued she fabricated the claim to promote her memoir and damage him politically.
Following a civil trial in 2023, jurors concluded that the evidence supported a finding that Trump sexually abused Carroll and later defamed her through public statements denying her allegations. While the jury did not find Trump liable for rape under New York law, it awarded Carroll $5 million in damages, which increased to more than $5.6 million after interest accrued.
Trump did not testify during that trial, and his legal team did not call any witnesses in his defense.
The litigation did not end with the first verdict. A separate Manhattan jury in 2024 awarded Carroll $83.3 million after finding Trump continued to defame her through additional public statements made after the first lawsuit. Trump continues to challenge that judgment through the appeals process and is expected to seek review by the US Supreme Court.
Trump’s legal team has indicated it will continue pursuing further appeals in the first case despite the release of the money. Attorneys argued the president could suffer irreparable harm if Carroll spent or donated the funds before the appeal process concluded. Carroll’s lawyers responded that she intended to place the money in an interest bearing retirement account, though the court ultimately rejected Trump’s request to prevent payment.
The payment represents the first time Trump has been required to satisfy a financial judgment in Carroll’s lawsuits. Combined with the separate $83.3 million verdict that remains under appeal, Carroll has secured civil judgments totaling more than $88 million against the president.
The case has become one of the most prominent civil legal challenges involving a sitting US president. It also reflects the broader legal impact of New York’s temporary law allowing survivors of alleged sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits over decades old claims that otherwise would have been barred by statutes of limitation.
Legal analysts note that while the payment resolves the financial obligation arising from the first verdict, it does not conclude the broader litigation between the two parties. The pending appeal over the separate $83.3 million defamation judgment could shape future legal standards involving public figures, defamation claims and the limits of presidential legal immunity in civil cases.
With the first judgment now satisfied, attention is expected to shift to the remaining appeal, which could determine whether Trump faces an additional multimillion dollar financial liability.
Sources: The Independent, The Associated Press, Reuters
