Donald Trump wants E. Jean Carroll to return the more than $5.6 million she received this month, even though the civil verdict behind the payment remains intact.
The president’s legal team has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for an emergency injunction that would place the money back into escrow while Trump continues contesting the judgment. No court has ordered Carroll to surrender the funds.
Carroll received $5,625,005.48 on July 9, one day after U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan authorized the release. The amount began as a $5 million jury award and grew as interest accumulated during Trump’s appeals.
A federal jury found Trump civilly liable in 2023 for sexually abusing Carroll in the 1990s and later defaming her. Trump has repeatedly denied her account.
Kaplan said the time for delaying payment had passed.
“Defendant has been stalling this case for years,” he wrote, adding, “It is time” for Trump to “pay the judgment.”
The Supreme Court declined to consider Trump’s appeal on June 29, leaving the verdict in place.
Carroll’s attorneys said the completed payment “should have been the end of this case.”
“But rather than accept the reality that he had lost, [Trump] has engaged in a series of maneuvers trying desperately to forestall payment,” they wrote.
Trump responded to the Supreme Court’s decision by calling the matter a “Fake Case” and promising to continue fighting.
Unless the appeals court grants his emergency request, the money remains with Carroll.
