Trump dealt fresh blow in E. Jean Carroll case after paying out $5.6 million to her
Donald Trump has been dealt a new blow in legal proceedings against writer E. Jean Carroll after the Supreme Court rejected his second attempt to reverse a previous jury verdict on the civil case.
The verdict found Trump liable for defamation and sexual abuse, awarding Carroll over $5 million, which the president has since been attempting to recover.
Following further legal wrangling, the funds have since been paid out to Carroll, 82, from an escrow bank account controlled by the court where they were being held while the case continued.
The US leader, 80, had previously attempted to recover the money, with this first effort rejected, and now the second attempt has also been unsuccessful.
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Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, told PEOPLE that she’s 'pleased that the United States Supreme Court has declined again to hear this case'.
“As a result, the jury’s unanimous verdict that Donald Trump sexually assaulted and then defamed E. Jean Carroll is now final and cannot be challenged in any court,” Kaplan added.
The Supreme Court is also currently considering a second defamation lawsuit in which she was awarded a mammoth $83 million.
This suit stemmed after Trump claimed on multiple occasions that he had 'never met' Carroll, dismissing her claims and allegations against him as a 'con job' and a 'hoax'.
In filings made in court last month, attorneys representing Carroll wrote that the payment of the money 'should have been the end of this case'.
“But Defendant now demands yet another unprecedented remedy,” they added.
“The judgment here is final, the money has already been disbursed, and Carroll is entitled to keep it.”
They also claimed that Trump had 'engaged in a series of maneuvers trying desperately to forestall payment'.
For his part, Trump - who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing - made clear that he will not stop making filings against the jury verdict after a previous filing was rejected by the Supreme Court in June.
Writing on Truth Social at the time, he said: “Surprisingly, the Supreme Court declined to ‘review’ a Fake Case brought against me by a woman I never met (Decades old celebrity photo line, standing with her husband, does not count!).”
The president added: “I will continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength.”
The legal battle began after Carroll accused Trump of assaulting her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s.
A federal jury would then go on to award her $5 million, with Carroll eventually receiving $5,625,005.48 after New York District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered payments to begin on July 8.
Then in 2024, a second jury ordered the payment of $83 million on top of the first payment in connection to separate allegations.
Carroll's lawyers argued that Trump has been attempting to 'buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying'.
“Defendant has lost before a jury, the district court, a unanimous Second Circuit panel, the full Second Circuit, en banc, and the Supreme Court of the United States,” they wrote previously.
“He agreed — in a signed stipulation — that Carroll could collect her judgment once his certiorari petition had been denied. That happened.
“Carroll should not have to wait any longer.”
UNILAD has approached representatives of Donald Trump for comment.
Topics: US News, Donald Trump, Court
Kit Roberts