Appeals Court Denies Trump's Request to Delay $5.8 Million Payment to E. Jean Carroll
A U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected former President Donald Trump's emergency request to postpone the disbursement of more than $5 million owed to E. Jean Carroll following her successful sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit.
A Manhattan federal appeals court on Wednesday turned down former President Donald Trump’s request for an emergency stay that would have delayed the release of funds ordered by a lower-court judge in the E. Jean Carroll case. The Second Circuit said it would not suspend the district judge’s order directing the clerk to disburse the $5 million judgment plus accrued interest, which now totals about $5.8 million.
Trump filed the request within an hour of the district court’s order, arguing that the stay was needed to preserve the status quo while his appeal proceeds. The district judge, Lewis Kaplan, had earlier directed the clerk to release the principal judgment and post-judgment interest after the Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s appeal.
“After four years of litigation across every level of the federal court system, it is time for this case to end,” said Roberta Kaplan, lead attorney for Carroll, in court filings.
The court’s decision follows a prior agreement in which Trump deposited the judgment amount and interest into a court-administered account pending the outcome of his appeals. Carroll’s lawyers contend that the agreement required payment once the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s appeal, a condition now satisfied.
Trump’s legal team maintains that the agreement does not allow collection while his rehearing petition remains unresolved, a position the appeals court rejected.