Former U.S. President Donald Trump was ordered by a federal jury in New York on Friday to pay $83.3 million in damages to E. Jean Carroll, for defaming her.
Carroll accused Trump of destroying her reputation as a trustworthy journalist by denying he raped her nearly three decades ago.
The seven-man, two-woman jury needed less than three hours to reach the verdict.
The payout far exceeded the minimum $10 million that Carroll had been seeking.
The jury awarded her $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages.
Carroll, 80, sued Trump in November 2019 over his denials five months earlier that he had raped her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.
Trump, 77, claimed that he had never heard of Carroll, and that she made up her story to boost sales of her memoir.
His lawyers said Carroll was hungry for fame and enjoyed the attention from supporters for speaking out against her nemesis.
Another jury last May ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million over a similar October 2022 denial, finding that he had defamed and sexually abused Carroll.
Trump is appealing that decision.
In the current trial, Carroll said Trump “shattered” her reputation as a respected journalist who told the truth.
She also said punitive damages were appropriate, in part to keep Trump from repeating his denials.
