A federal appeals judge has rejected President Donald Trump’s emergency attempt to stop approximately $5.8 million from being transferred to E. Jean Carroll, leaving in place a lower-court order directing payment of a civil judgment arising from Carroll’s sexual abuse and defamation case.

Judge Eunice C. Lee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied Trump’s request for an immediate administrative stay late Wednesday, according to court reporting and filings in the case. Trump had sought the temporary intervention only hours after U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ordered the clerk of the Southern District of New York to release the money from the court’s registry investment system.

Kaplan’s written order directed the clerk to transfer the $5 million principal judgment, along with post-judgment interest accrued under federal law, to an attorney trust account for Carroll. The total was reported at approximately $5.8 million. The money had been held by the court since 2023 while Trump pursued appeals of the verdict.

The appeals court’s action did not issue a broad new ruling on the evidence presented at trial. Instead, it rejected Trump’s request for an emergency pause while he continued contesting the timing of the disbursement. The immediate practical effect was to remove the stay Trump sought against Kaplan’s payment order.

Trump’s lawyers argued that the funds should remain under court control while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a petition asking it to reconsider its recent refusal to hear his challenge to the judgment. They said releasing the money could cause an unrecoverable loss if Carroll distributes or donates it and Trump later succeeds in reopening the case.

Carroll’s attorneys opposed another delay, arguing that the judgment had already been reviewed extensively and that the conditions established in a 2023 court agreement had been met. They told the appellate court that Carroll had waited more than three years for payment and that the litigation should be brought to an end.

The dispute centers on a May 2023 jury verdict in Manhattan federal court. Jurors found Trump civilly liable for sexually abusing Carroll during an encounter in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s and for defaming her after she publicly described the alleged attack. The jury awarded Carroll $2 million for sexual abuse and $3 million for defamation and related damages.

The verdict was reached under the civil standard of proof, which requires a finding that a claim is more likely than not to be true. The jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse but did not find that Carroll had proved rape under the specific legal definition presented on the verdict form. Kaplan later wrote that the conduct established at trial would commonly be understood as rape, while emphasizing the distinction between ordinary usage and the applicable statutory definition.

Trump has consistently denied Carroll’s account. He has said he did not know her, accused her of fabricating the allegations and described the litigation as politically motivated. His public denials formed part of Carroll’s defamation claims. Trump’s representatives continued criticizing the proceedings after Kaplan ordered the funds released.

Shortly after the 2023 verdict, Trump deposited $5.55 million with the court as security instead of using a conventional appeal bond. The deposit covered the $5 million judgment and an additional amount intended to account for interest while the appeal proceeded. Under the stipulation approved by the court, Carroll could collect the money after specified appellate developments, including denial of a petition for Supreme Court review.

The Second Circuit previously upheld the verdict, rejecting Trump’s arguments that the trial judge had improperly admitted evidence and unfairly restricted his defense. Trump then sought broader appellate review before turning to the Supreme Court. On June 29, the justices declined to hear the case, leaving the lower-court judgment intact.

Carroll’s lawyers treated the Supreme Court’s denial as the final event required to trigger payment under the 2023 agreement. Trump’s attorneys disputed that interpretation, pointing to their request for the Supreme Court to reconsider and arguing that the status quo should be preserved until that filing is resolved.

Kaplan rejected the request for additional delay. In a memorandum explaining the disbursement order, he said Trump had been stalling the case for years and noted that the jury’s verdict had survived appellate review, a request for rehearing and the Supreme Court petition. He concluded that the judgment should now be paid.

The latest ruling concerns only the funds associated with the 2023 verdict. Carroll also won a separate $83.3 million defamation judgment against Trump in January 2024. That second case focused on statements Trump made about Carroll while serving his first presidential term and after she initially accused him publicly in 2019.

In the later trial, a jury awarded Carroll $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages. Trump secured that judgment with a bond while pursuing a separate appeal. The litigation over the larger award remains procedurally distinct from the approximately $5.8 million payment now authorized for release.

Carroll brought the sexual abuse claim after New York enacted the Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily reopened the filing window for certain civil claims that had become time-barred. She had first described the alleged encounter in a 2019 memoir and sued Trump after he publicly denied the accusation and attacked her credibility.

The appellate court’s emergency denial underscores the limited role of administrative stays. Such relief is designed to preserve conditions briefly while judges consider a fuller motion, but applicants generally must show a strong legal basis and a meaningful risk of irreparable harm. Lee’s decision indicates that Trump did not obtain the immediate intervention needed to halt the transfer.

Further filings remain possible, and Trump has signaled that he will continue contesting the case. But absent a new court order, Kaplan’s disbursement directive remains operative, allowing Carroll’s lawyers to receive the principal judgment and the interest earned while the funds were held by the federal court.