In an interview this Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” lawyer Roberta Kaplan — who represented writer E. Jean Carroll in recent proceedings targeting former President Donald Trump — expressed confidence in the possibility of actually securing the $83.3 million a jury recently awarded the writer in penalties on Trump.
The penalties, adding substantially to the $5 million already imposed in financial consequences on Trump after a first trial on claims from Carroll, this time cover defamation allegations. Carroll (successfully) alleged defamation after Trump’s antagonistic responses to her account of the eventual president sexually assaulting her in the 1990s. That account was itself handled at the first (civil) trial, where a jury largely upheld Carroll’s account of Trump’s actions. In other words, Trump was formally found liable in civil court proceedings for sexual misconduct.
“I’m pretty confident,” Kaplan said of getting money from Trump, adding: “He owns a lot of real estate. It could be sold. And we will collect the judgment.”
Asked about some of the specifics for the path ahead in potentially collecting, Kaplan said that Trump can either put up a bond or deposit the sum with the court pending further proceedings. And if neither of those arguably already strenuous conditions are met, then Carroll’s team can start “right away” on collections, Kaplan explained on air. In other words, there aren’t clear outs for the ex-president. After the first jury put $5 million in penalties on Trump, his team deposited the sum with the court.
Trump’s real estate holdings are also under legal threat as a final decision looms following trial on fraud claims against Trump and associates from New York state Attorney General Letitia James, who alleged a years-long pattern of the Trumps and their business entities deceiving figures like prospective lenders about the values of their holdings, positioning them for financial benefits like more favorable terms on loans because they seemed better off than the reality. In court as the second trial concluded, Kaplan actually called the jury’s attention to Trump’s egotistical boasts of claimed value for some of his holdings while arguing for high penalties. Trump abruptly left the courtroom amid Friday’s closing arguments.
