Trump Pays Jean Carroll $5.6 Million in Sexual Assault and Defamation Case
Former US President Donald Trump has paid $5.6 million in damages to writer Jean Carroll following a civil conviction for sexual assault and defamation, though a separate $83.3 million judgment remains unpaid.
Trump Pays Jean Carroll $5.6 Million in Sexual Assault and Defamation Case
Donald Trump, the sitting American president, has transferred $5.6 million to writer Jean Carroll as compensation for moral damages. The money stems from a definitive civil judgment that held him accountable for sexual assault and defamation. Despite this payout, an outstanding debt of $83.3 million from another related proceeding has not yet been settled.
Roberta Kaplan, legal representative for Carroll, confirmed the transaction. Speaking to the press, she said her client received the amount covering both compensation and accumulated interest stemming from a May 2023 court decision. The information was reported by Digi24.ro, drawing on dispatches from AFP and EFE.
The country's highest judicial body, the Supreme Court, refused at the close of June to examine Trump's challenge to the civil verdict. With no further avenue for appeal, the appellate ruling became binding, prompting a federal magistrate to order execution of the payment during the past week.
Carroll, an 82-year-old former contributor to fashion publication "Elle," maintains that Trump sexually attacked her inside a Manhattan store's fitting area back in 1996. The businessman-turned-politician has rejected this account entirely, dismissing it as fabricated and insisting the two never crossed paths.
In the initial May 2023 ruling, the court imposed a $5 million liability. Upon review, the appeals panel declined to confirm rape occurred but sustained the overall outcome, breaking the award into $2.02 million for sexual abuse and $2.98 million for reputational harm through false statements.
Judges relied partly on a campaign-era audio clip from 2016 where Trump was recorded boasting about groping women. Together with parallel claims by Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, the panel concluded it was plausible that Trump engaged in "abrupt, uninvited physical contact with women he had just met" as a recurring conduct pattern.
A distinct defamation action produced an even steeper penalty. In January 2024, a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million for continuing to publicly deny and mock Carroll's claims after the first verdict. That sum was likewise affirmed on appeal, though no disbursement has followed so far.
Throughout both litigations, Trump maintained he never encountered Carroll, suggested she did not match his preferences, labeled her mentally unstable, and accused her of inventing the attack to sell books.
Separately, following Trump's return to the presidency, federal prosecutors launched a criminal inquiry into Carroll herself in May, according to CNN and the New York Times. Investigators are examining whether she committed perjury by denying under oath that outside parties financed her lawsuits, when evidence later showed billionaire Reid Hoffman had contributed to her legal costs.
Source: Digi24