Donald Trump pays out E Jean Carroll nearly $US5.63 million ($A8.06 million) over sex abuse case
US President Donald Trump has paid writer E Jean Carroll millions of dollars after a jury found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming her.
The writer E Jean Carroll has collected millions of dollars from Donald Trump after a jury in 2023 found the US president liable for sexually abusing and defaming her, court records show.
Over Mr Trump’s objections, the money - nearly $US5.63 million ($A8.06 million) - was released to Ms Carroll’s law firm on Monday, five days after US District Judge Lewis Kaplan authorised the disbursement from a court-supervised account.
The payout represents the original $US5 million ($A7.2 million) civil verdict, plus interest.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.It is the first time Mr Trump has been forced to pay Ms Carroll. She has won $US88.3 million ($A126.4 million) of civil verdicts against the president in the seven years since he first denied having raped her around 1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.
Mr Trump has branded Ms Carroll’s claims a hoax, denied he knew her, said she made up the alleged rape to help sell her memoir, and derided her case as “weaponisation and lawfare.”
Last month, the US Supreme Court rejected Mr Trump’s appeal from the verdict.
A spokesperson for Mr Trump’s legal team on Tuesday repeated a statement made after Kaplan’s decision: “The American People stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes.”
Last week, Mr Trump’s lawyer asked a federal appeals court to block a disbursement, saying the president would suffer “irreparable harm” if Ms Carroll fulfilled her stated intention to give away the money because the money likely could not be recovered.
The lawyer also said it did not matter that Ms Carroll now assures she will put the money in an interest-bearing account to fund her retirement, because she could still give it away.
Jurors awarded Ms Carroll the millions of dollars based on a Mr Trump denial in 2022, though they did not find that Mr Trump raped her.
A different jury in 2024 ordered Mr Trump to pay Ms Carroll $US83.3 million ($A119.2 million), based on his original 2019 denial during his first White House term.
Mr Trump is expected to appeal that verdict to the Supreme Court.
Ms Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, said in a statement: “Three years ago, a unanimous nine-person jury found President Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E Jean Carroll. We are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her.”
