Federal judge orders release of $5.8 million escrow to E. Jean Carroll

A federal judge in New York ordered that the $5.8 million held in escrow for writer E. Jean Carroll be released, after a jury found former President Donald Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The money, which includes the original $5 million award plus interest, has already been deposited in an account and will be paid to Carroll.

Trump’s legal team immediately sought to block the payment while they continue to appeal, asking the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to halt the disbursement. The appeal follows a Supreme Court decision that let the 2023 civil verdict stand, allowing Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to issue the release order.

The jury concluded that Trump assaulted Carroll in a Manhattan department store dressing room in 1996 and later defamed her after she recounted the incident in a 2019 memoir. Trump has denied the allegations, describing them as false and stating he never knew Carroll.

Carroll’s attorneys did not comment on the ruling. The case was revived after New York changed its laws to permit survivors of historic sexual abuse to file new lawsuits.

Separately, Trump is also appealing an $83 million defamation judgment from a 2024 trial, in which the judge limited the evidence the jury could consider regarding Trump’s denial of the encounter. A 2nd Circuit judge noted Trump’s repeated statements that Carroll fabricated the claims for political and financial gain.