Manhattan federal judge Lewis Kaplan has ordered the release of more than $5.8 million that Donald Trump deposited into a court-controlled account after losing a 2023 sexual abuse and defamation trial to writer E Jean Carroll. The order came less than an hour before Trump filed paperwork indicating he is appealing the decision.
Funds secured in court registry
Trump deposited the $5 million jury award, plus 11% interest, into the court's registry investment system (Cris) about six weeks after Carroll's victory. The funds, now totaling approximately $5.8 million due to interest accrual, will be disbursed to Carroll under Kaplan's order. The decision follows the US Supreme Court's June 29 refusal to review Trump's appeal, after lower courts repeatedly rejected his challenges to the verdict.
Background of the case
Carroll sued Trump in November 2019 over statements he made denying her allegation that he sexually assaulted her in a New York City department store dressing room in the 1990s. The 2023 trial determined Trump sexually abused Carroll and defamed her. Trump denied all wrongdoing. The initial lawsuit only covered defamation due to statute of limitations, but New York's Adult Survivors Act later allowed Carroll to sue over the alleged assault in a separate 2022 filing.
Appeal process and agreement
After Trump appealed the 2023 verdict, he received an automatic 30-day stay. In June 2023, both sides agreed Trump could deposit the money into Cris while appeals played out. The agreement stipulated Carroll could collect the funds if certain conditions were met, including the Supreme Court refusing to hear the case. Trump secured a bond for a separate $83.3 million judgment against him in a 2024 trial over defamatory statements made as president.
Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, argued in a June 30 filing that "after four years of litigation across every level of the federal court system, it is time for this case to end." She pushed for swift release after the Supreme Court decision, stating, "This time around, he remarkably seeks to further delay Carroll's collection of the judgment awarded to her in 2023 by stating that he is considering whether to move for reconsideration of the Supreme Court's denial of his petition. But this is the end of the line."
Trump's objections and legal analysis
Trump's legal team argued on July 7 that Carroll's team misinterpreted the agreement, claiming that if the Supreme Court later ruled in Trump's favor after disbursement, he would suffer an "unrecoverable loss" because Carroll has stated she intends to give away any funds collected. Legal experts, however, believe Kaplan's order all but guarantees Carroll will receive the money. Bryan Sullivan, a partner with Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae LLP, said, "I think Roberta Kaplan said it best: He's at the end of the line here." Neama Rahmani, founder of West Coast Trial Lawyers, noted that Supreme Court reconsideration petitions are almost never granted, calling it "all but nil."
