Trump May Face Liquidity Issues After E. Jean Carroll Verdict, Lawyers Warn

After Donald Trump was ordered by a jury in New York City to pay $83.3 million in damages to former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll on Friday in his civil defamation trial, attorneys warned that the former president may face liquidity issues.

In Trump’s second civil defamation trial, a New York City jury on Friday ordered that he must pay $83.3 million in damages to Carroll for statements made in 2019 when he claimed she was lying about allegations that he sexually assaulted her inside a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s. That amount includes $7.3 million in compensatory damages, $11 million for reputational repair, and $65 million in punitive damages. Trump was previously ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in damages last year in another civil defamation trial stemming from a denial he made about her claims in 2022.

“Absolutely ridiculous! I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party,” Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, wrote in part about the verdict on Truth Social, his social media platform.

Since the verdict, some attorneys warned that the money Trump needs to pay in damages could cause liquidity issues for him

In a Friday post to X, formerly Twitter, attorney Harry Litman, who previously served as a U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and deputy assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice (DOJ), shared a video discussing the amount of damages, adding that if Trump wants to appeal them he may need to liquidate some of his properties.

“We may have some real liquidity issues now for Donald Trump, so if he wants to appeal this he has to post a bond that is the equal of, let’s say he wants to appeal the punitive damages, he has to cough up $65 million as I understand New York law,” he said.

Litman added: “So he’s going to have to post money to appeal, which I think he will try to do. Nevertheless, it might even mean he has to liquidate some of these properties that he is so proud of.”

Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s spokesperson via email for comment.

Glenn Kirschner, a former assistant U.S. attorney and frequent critic of Trump, took to MSNBC host Joy Reid’s podcast on Saturday to discuss the damages the former president faces and pointed towards the amount of money and possible use of his properties it would take to get an appeal bond.

“In order to get an appeal bond, he would very likely have to put up most of or all of the $83 million so that there is a pot of money that can be paid to E. Jean Carroll at the end of the appeals process. He’ll have to put it up either in cash, and wasn’t he just bragging that he has $400 million on hand, I’m betting he doesn’t or he’ll have to put it up in unencumbered property. I can only wonder how much equity he actually has in some of the properties he owns,” Kirschner, who is also a legal analyst for MSNBC, said.

This is not the first time some have pointed towards issues involving how much Trump will need to pay out.

As well as the damages Trump has to pay to Carroll, he’s facing a civil fraud trial brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. In September, Judge Arthur Engoron issued a partial summary judgment ruling that Trump and top executives at The Trump Organization committed fraud. He held that the former president grossly inflated the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms from lenders and insurers. The rest of the trial will determine how much Trump will pay in damages, as well as rule on six other accusations—including falsifying business records, insurance fraud and conspiracy claims.

Engoron is expected to make a decision in the case next week.

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, an associate professor of law at Stetson University College of Law, previously told Newsweek that the combination of these two cases could trigger bankruptcy.

“Only Trump knows for sure what his finances actually are, but the combination of the New York civil fraud case and the E. Jean Carroll cases could be a one-two punch that triggers a bankruptcy. However, I doubt ex-President Trump would want to file for bankruptcy during an election year,” she said.

However, attorney Bradley Moss previously told Newsweek that, while the issue was outside his area of expertise, he doubted the case would bankrupt Trump because of his assets.

“I do not expect this to bankrupt him,” he said. “He does have actual assets.”