E. Jean Carroll is moving to collect. On June 30, 2026, her lawyers asked the trial judge to release more than $5 million that has been sitting in a court-controlled account — and they did it just one day after the Supreme Court cleared away the last obstacle standing in her way.
On June 29, the justices declined to hear Donald Trump’s appeal of the 2023 jury verdict that found he s*xually abused and defamed the writer. That refusal let the verdict stand. With no appeal left to file, Carroll’s legal team acted immediately.
How the Money Ended Up in Escrow
It’s worth being precise about what is actually happening here, because it is easy to misread. This is not a fresh order for Trump to pay. The money already exists, and it has for a long time.
After the 2023 verdict, Trump deposited roughly $5.5 million — the $5 million jury award plus accrued interest — into an escrow account controlled by the court. That deposit is standard practice when a losing party appeals a money judgment: the funds are set aside and frozen while the higher courts decide whether the verdict holds. For nearly two years, that cash sat untouched while Trump pursued every avenue of appeal available to him.
Now that the Supreme Court has declined to intervene, those avenues are exhausted. Carroll’s attorneys are asking the judge to simply hand the escrowed money over to her — and they have requested an expedited briefing schedule, aiming to have the matter fully briefed by July 10. In plain terms, they want this resolved fast.
Which Case Is This?
There have been two Carroll cases, and they are frequently confused. This one is known as “Carroll II” — the $5 million verdict for s*xual abuse and defamation handed down by a jury in 2023. It is entirely separate from the much larger $83.3 million defamation award from a related case, which is still working its way through the courts on its own track.
The distinction matters because the $5 million case is the one that has now run out of appeals. A jury heard the evidence, reached a verdict, and every level of the federal judiciary — up to and including the Supreme Court — has now declined to disturb it.
Years of Legal Fighting Come Down to This
For Carroll, the road to this moment has been long. She first went public with her account years ago, filed suit, won at trial, and then watched as the case was appealed again and again. Each step stretched the timeline further. The Supreme Court’s June 29 decision not to take up the appeal was, functionally, the end of the line for challenges to the verdict.
The ruling itself was procedural — the Court simply declined to hear the case, which is different from affirming it on the merits. But the practical effect is the same. When the nation’s highest court refuses to step in, the verdict below becomes final.
What This Means
At its core, this is a story about accountability reaching its conclusion. A jury of ordinary citizens weighed the facts and reached a verdict. A losing party spent years and considerable resources trying to overturn it. And in the end, the courts said no. The money that was set aside to honor that verdict is now, at last, within reach of the person the jury said was wronged.
The only real question left is a logistical one: how quickly the judge signs off and the funds change hands. After years of litigation, that may be the shortest chapter of all.
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