E. Jean Carroll Secures $5.8 Million Award Following Verdict Against Trump
In a significant legal development, writer E. Jean Carroll has been granted access to a $5.8 million compensation after a jury determined that former President Donald Trump had sexually abused and defamed her. This decision was confirmed by a federal judge on Wednesday. However, Trump’s legal team has promptly filed an appeal to halt the payment.
The funds have already been deposited by Trump into an account. The recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the 2023 civil verdict enabled Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to authorize the release of the money, which has accrued interest, increasing the initial $5 million award.
The jury’s findings indicate that Trump assaulted Carroll in a department store in Manhattan in 1996, subsequently defaming her after she publicly recounted the incident in a 2019 memoir. This occurred during Trump’s presidency. Despite the ruling, Trump’s lawyers continue to challenge the verdicts and have escalated the matter to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Carroll’s legal team has yet to comment on the latest developments.
The trial, which Trump did not attend, concluded with the jury accepting Carroll’s account of a seemingly friendly encounter at a luxury department store turning violent. Trump has consistently maintained that he does not know Carroll, now aged 82, accusing her of leveraging the situation for book sales and political gain.
Additionally, Trump is contesting an $83 million defamation award granted to Carroll by another Manhattan jury. During a January 2024 trial, Trump briefly took the stand.
In this trial, Judge Kaplan instructed the jury to accept the previous jury’s findings and solely decide the financial liability Trump had towards Carroll for his presidential comments about her.
Trump’s defense team expressed dissatisfaction with the trial’s parameters, noting that they were restricted from presenting evidence to the jury that the alleged incident with Carroll did not occur.
