After seven years of accusations, denials, lawsuits, trials and appeals, E. Jean Carroll can finally say something Donald Trump spent years trying to prevent:
She has his money.
The writer and former magazine columnist has received approximately $5.6 million stemming from the 2023 civil jury verdict that found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and later defaming her.
The original award was $5 million.
Interest pushed the amount higher while Trump continued appealing the verdict.
Now the money is in Carroll's account.
And after one more attempt by Trump to prevent her from keeping it, Carroll says the legal fight over this particular judgment is effectively finished.
A Jury Found Trump Liable
Carroll publicly accused Trump in 2019 of attacking her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the 1990s.
Trump denied the allegation and publicly attacked Carroll.
She sued.
In May 2023, a federal civil jury in Manhattan found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and for defaming her.
The jury awarded her $5 million in damages.
Trump appealed.
And appealed.
The money remained tied up while the case continued through the federal courts.
Trump ultimately took his effort to overturn the verdict to the United States Supreme Court.
In June 2026, the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal.
There were no noted dissents from the decision denying review.
That left the jury's verdict standing.
The $5 Million Became $5.6 Million
Trump had deposited money with the court while pursuing his appeals.
But money held during years of litigation accrues interest.
By the time Carroll became entitled to receive it, the amount had grown to approximately:
$5.6 million.
A federal judge authorized the money's release.
Court records subsequently confirmed that Carroll received it.
After years of Trump insisting that the verdict should be overturned, the money had finally moved from the account securing Trump's judgment into Carroll's hands.
Trump Still Tried to Stop It
Even that wasn't quite the end.
Carroll told AFP that after the money reached her account, Trump continued trying to stop the process while seeking another opportunity for the Supreme Court to reconsider its refusal to hear his appeal.
Carroll described the extraordinary situation during an interview in Paris this week.
She already had the money.
Trump was still fighting.
But Carroll said lawyers for both sides have now agreed that the remaining injunction dispute is moot.
For the first time since the jury returned its verdict more than three years ago, Carroll says she is finally free to use the money.
She Doesn't Plan to Go Shopping
Carroll's plans for the money are perhaps the most interesting part of the story.
She isn't talking about mansions.
She isn't talking about cars.
She isn't talking about luxury vacations.
At 82 years old, Carroll told AFP she doesn't have much interest in buying things.
“I don't buy stuff,” she said.
“I know how to be happy.”
But there is another enormous judgment against Trump that could eventually provide Carroll with considerably more money.
$83.3 million.
And Carroll has much bigger plans for that.
The Other Judgment Is $83.3 Million
The $5.6 million Carroll has now received comes from the first civil trial.
There is another case.
After Carroll initially accused Trump of assaulting her, Trump repeatedly attacked her publicly and denied her allegations.
Carroll sued him for defamation.
In January 2024, another federal jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll an additional:
$83.3 million.
That award included compensatory and punitive damages.
Unlike the first judgment, however, the much larger award remains tied up in continuing litigation.
Trump has continued challenging it.
Until those appeals are exhausted, Carroll cannot treat the $83.3 million as money she is free to spend.
But she already knows what she wants to do with it if the judgment ultimately reaches her.
“Everything He Hates”
Carroll told AFP that the money would support causes she believes Trump opposes.
Her description was characteristically blunt.
The money, she said, is going toward “everything he hates.”
She specifically mentioned:
Women's rights.
Minority rights.
The environment.
The statement adds a remarkable final chapter to a legal battle that began when Carroll publicly accused one of the most powerful men in America of sexually assaulting her.
Trump denied it.
He attacked her credibility.
He fought her lawsuits.
He appealed the verdicts.
He tried to prevent the judgments from being collected.
The first battle is now effectively over.
Carroll has the money.
Seven Years
The financial judgment tells only part of the story.
Carroll described the seven-year ordeal as relentlessly difficult.
There were exciting moments and even funny ones, she said.
There were also moments when she wished she had never become involved.
But there were no easy moments.
Carroll said she believed she was able to continue partly because of her age and personal circumstances.
She didn't have children whose lives could be disrupted by the fight.
She felt she had little left to lose.
That made her willing to endure something many other women might not.
Carroll now says she worries that women have become less willing to publicly confront powerful men, despite the optimism surrounding the #MeToo movement several years earlier.
She says some of Trump's other accusers remain deeply affected by what happened after they spoke publicly.
Carroll stays in contact with some of those women.
She calls them a sisterhood.
Trump Lost This Fight
Trump has spent years insisting Carroll's accusations were false.
The civil justice system reached a different conclusion.
A jury heard the evidence.
Trump had lawyers representing him.
Carroll had lawyers representing her.
Witnesses testified.
Evidence was presented.
Jurors deliberated.
And the jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her.
Trump then exercised his right to appeal.
Higher courts reviewed his challenges.
The Supreme Court declined to intervene.
The judgment survived.
And now the money has been paid.
That distinction matters.
This isn't simply an allegation that remains unresolved.
It is the result of a completed civil trial followed by years of appellate litigation.
She Finally Got Her Money
For E. Jean Carroll, the first major financial chapter of the case is finally closed.
The original jury award:
$5 million.
After interest:
Approximately $5.6 million.
And after years of fighting:
It's in Carroll's account.
The much larger $83.3 million judgment remains unresolved as Trump continues pursuing his legal options.
If that judgment ultimately survives as well, Carroll says she already knows where the money will go.
Not toward a lavish new lifestyle.
Not toward expensive possessions.
But toward causes she believes Donald Trump opposes.
For seven years, Trump fought E. Jean Carroll in court.
On the first judgment, the courts have now had their final say.
And E. Jean Carroll finally got paid.