Kory Grow
Contact Kory Grow on X View all posts by Kory Grow July 8, 2026
E. Jean Carroll arrives at Manhattan federal court, May 9, 2023. AP Photo/John Minchillo, File A federal judge ruled Wednesday that E. Jean Carroll can collect the $5.8 million that has been held in escrow since a jury found President Donald Trump liable of sexual abuse and defamation against her, according to The Associated Press. Trump’s lawyers immediately sought to stop the payment so they could appeal the decision.
Trump was found liable in a 2023 civil trial, which Trump did not attend, related to Carroll’s accusation that Trump attacked her in 1996 in a department store dressing room. She was able to sue Trump when New York opened up a window for survivors of sexual abuse to file suits after the statute of limitations.
Carroll, now 82, alleged Trump had defamed her after she published her account of what happened in a 2019 memoir. The verdict led to her being awarded $5 million, which has grown with interest. The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided that the verdict should stand, which paved the way to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan’s decision this week.
A rep for Trump did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s requests for comment. A rep for Carroll said neither the legal team nor Carroll could comment at this time beyond the legal filings.
Carroll told the jury in 2023 that what began as a friendly encounter at a department store turned scary. Trump said he never met Carroll and called her “not my type” in an interview.
