Trump loses appeal of E. Jean Carroll US$5 million defamation verdict
The verdict was upheld after a jury found US president-elect liable for sexually abusing and later defaming the former magazine columnist
The decision was issued by a three-judge panel of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan.
The May 2023 verdict stemmed from an incident around 1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan, where Carroll said Trump raped her, and an October 2022 Truth Social post where Trump denied Carroll’s claim, calling it a hoax.
Though jurors in federal court in Manhattan did not find that Trump committed rape, they awarded the former Elle magazine agony aunt US$2.02 million for sexual assault and US$2.98 million for defamation.
A different jury ordered Trump in January to pay Carroll US$83.3 million for defaming her and damaging her reputation in June 2019, when he first denied her rape claim.
In both denials, Trump said he did not know Carroll, she was “not my type”, and that she fabricated the rape claim to promote her memoir. He is appealing the US$83.3 million verdict.
Lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Carroll did not immediately respond to a similar request.
