Former President Donald Trump has secured a $91.63 million bond in connection with the defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, as reported by CNN. This financial commitment was filed with a federal court in New York.
In January, a jury sided with Carroll, a former columnist for Elle magazine, ordering Trump to pay $83.3 million in damages. This decision came after the jury concluded that Trump had defamed Carroll by denying her allegations of rape in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room during the 1990s.
Following the jury’s decision on January 26, Judge Lewis Kaplan formalized the ruling on February 8. Trump was then required to either post a bond or pay cash within 30 days while appealing the verdict.
Trump has contested the jury’s decision, advocating for a reduction in the award amount, asserting that it was excessively high. Despite his request for a postponement of the verdict enforcement, a federal judge declined this appeal on Thursday.
Trump’s legal team had aimed to minimize or eliminate the need for a substantial bond, disputing Carroll’s suggestion of Trump’s financial difficulties. They proposed a $24.5 million bond as sufficiently secure against any risk to Carroll.
This legal challenge is one of many for Trump, the current front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. He also faces a looming March 25 deadline to post a $454 million bond in a separate civil fraud case initiated by New York Attorney General Letitia James and is implicated in four distinct criminal proceedings.
