Trump was found guilty by a jury in 2023 of sexual abuse and defamation of E. Jean Carroll. But he used every legal option to try and delay or prevent the release of the money, filing appeal after appeal even up to the US Supreme Court. But they all failed and today, the judge released $5.6 million in funds that had been held in escrow.

The disbursement, made public in a 14 July entry on Carroll’s case docket, indicates that the funds were released by a court-held account on 9 July – one day after judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the release of this money.

Trump, who has been fighting against the release of this money since June after the supreme court on 29 June denied his request to hear his appeal, has denied wrongdoing.

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Both Carroll and Trump’s lawyers had agreed that he could deposit the jury award with the court’s registry investment system (Cris) while he pursued his appeals. Cris in effect functions as an escrow agent for funds awarded in litigation if legal processes continue after a judgment.

As such, if a defendant’s appeals efforts fail, this money is available to the victor. Because a defendant does not have this money in their possession, they cannot withhold these funds with financial or legal tactics.

When they agreed to the Cris arrangement, both Carroll and Trump’s lawyers also agreed that the money should be released upon certain legal developments, including a supreme court refusal to hear his appeal.

Before the supreme court’s rejection, Trump had mounted multiple unsuccessful appeals. Trump’s team insisted in court filings that Carroll’s team misinterpreted this provision and said that the money should remain in Cris since he was asking the supreme court to reconsider.

But that does not end Carroll’s claims on Trump, because of another lawsuit that she won against him.

In a separate 2024 trial, a separate Manhattan federal court jury awarded Carroll $83.3m for defamatory comments Trump made about her while he was president. The two jury awards stem from a 2019 New York magazine feature that excerpting Carroll’s book, What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal. Carroll claimed in this book that Trump sexually assaulted her about three decades prior in the fitting room of a luxury New York department store.

That case too is awaiting a final ruling by the Supreme Court of a Trump appeal, according to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

President Donald Trump won’t have to pay an $83 million defamation award to a longtime advice columnist until the U.S. Supreme Court gets a chance to review the case or reject an appeal, according to a court entry Tuesday.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to a request by one of Trump’s lawyers that it let the president delay the payment to E. Jean Carroll, though it required that Trump post a $7.4 million bond to cover any additional interest costs, a request Carroll’s attorney had made.
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Trump is challenging the $83 million award on several grounds, asserting “absolute immunity” for comments he made while president as he disavowed knowing Carroll and attacked her motivations, saying they were politically driven or arose from a desire to promote her memoir.

Given how much this Supreme Court bends over backwards to accommodate Trump, they may well overturn this verdict.

But I am glad that Carroll has received at least some money from Trump.