A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the release of roughly $5.8 million in court-held funds to E. Jean Carroll, rejecting a last-minute bid by Donald Trump's lawyers to block the disbursement.
Judge Lewis Kaplan directed that the money — stemming from a May 2023 civil verdict finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation — be paid out with accrued interest. Trump's attorneys had argued on Monday that the funds could not be released because they filed a petition for Supreme Court rehearing on July 6, days after the court declined to hear his appeal. Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan called the maneuver gamesmanship and sought an accelerated payout schedule, which the judge granted.
Carroll separately won more than $83 million against Trump in a 2024 defamation trial.