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Donald Trump breathes a sigh of relief as he secures a $92 million bond for E Jean Carroll verdict appeal
Donald Trump secures a $92 million bond for E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case appeal, while almost drowning into a hefty $453 million debt
Former US President Donald Trump has reportedly secured a $92 million bond to support his appeal in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case.
The bond acquisition follows Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Manhattan federal court’s decision to reject the former President’s plea to postpone the enforcement of the $83.3 million verdict that jurors handed to Carroll on January 26.
Trump is required to either pay the sum in cash or secure a bond by March 11 as he seeks the appeal.
Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, has requested Judge Kaplan for the bond. If granted, Trump would be temporarily exempt from paying Carroll.
However, even this bond does little to mitigate Trump’s broader financial challenges.
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$92m bond, $453m debt, and a date with justice
On February 16, Justice Arthur Engoron of the Manhattan Supreme Court ordered Trump to pay $355 million in a separate civil fraud lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Including interest, Trump’s debt is estimated to be around $453 million, according to James’s office.
Trump's upcoming criminal trial is scheduled to commence on March 25.
The coming trial involves allegations related to hush-money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Meanwhile, the former New York Times columnist secured $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages in her second defamation lawsuit against Trump. This verdict arrived less than a year after a different Manhattan federal court jury awarded Carroll $5 million in both sexual abuse and defamation lawsuits.
What are the Carroll's allegations?
Carroll’s allegations against Trump were first publicized in a June 2019 New York magazine article, which featured her memoir ‘What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal.’ In that book, She accused Trump of raping her in a changing room at a Manhattan department store.
Carroll claimed that Trump’s vehement denials, and lamenting her as a dishonest political operative, severely damaged her reputation and career. So, she initiated a lawsuit against him in 2019. At that time, the state’s civil statute of limitations prevented her from suing Trump for the alleged sexual assault.
A legislative change in 2022, known as the Adult Survivors Act, allowed a one-year window for adult accusers to file lawsuits for incidents that had previously been beyond the civil statute of limitations. Taking advantage of this new law, Carroll filed another lawsuit against Trump.
