Trump ordered to pay $83.3M

Donald Trump’s legal exposure is widening across separate fronts that now overlap in money, court scrutiny and the use of federal power. The clearest piece is the $83.3 million defamation verdict won by writer E. Jean Carroll, a judgment a New York jury delivered on January 26, 2024, and that an appeals court later left in place. At the same time, a federal judge in Florida has reopened Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, and a separate federal judge in Virginia has paused payouts from a roughly $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund tied to the IRS settlement. Together, the cases place Trump, his administration and his allies back before multiple courts at once. ### How did the Carroll case reach $83.3 million? A Manhattan jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million after finding Trump liable for defaming her through statements he made in 2019 while he was president. The trial concerned Trump’s denials after Carroll accused him of sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s, and the judge had already ruled that the statements at issue were defamatory. (politico.com) The award was split between compensatory and punitive damages, with the larger punitive component aimed at penalizing Trump for repeated attacks on Carroll. Politico reported at the time that jurors were told to decide how much Trump should pay after the court had already established liability. ### Did Trump still have appeals left on that verdict? (thehill.com) A U.S. appeals court in Manhattan left the $83.3 million judgment intact in late May 2026, according to Bloomberg Law and Courthouse News. That meant Trump failed, at least at that stage, to overturn the jury’s penalty in Carroll’s favor. The Carroll litigation has also remained active in other ways. (politico.com) Reuters reported on May 27, 2026, that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into whether Carroll committed perjury in connection with testimony tied to her civil lawsuits, according to a source familiar with the matter. ### Why is the IRS case back in court? (news.bloomberglaw.com) A federal judge in Florida agreed in late May 2026 to reopen Trump’s $10 billion IRS lawsuit after former federal judges and other challengers argued that the case’s settlement required closer examination. The reopened case centers on allegations that the settlement, which had created the anti-weaponization fund, may have been “premised on deception,” according to reports from The Hill, CNBC and other outlets summarizing the court filings. (msn.com) The underlying lawsuit had accused the IRS of improperly disclosing Trump tax information. CNBC reported that Trump, his two eldest sons and the Trump Organization dropped the case on May 18, 2026, and that an addendum disclosed afterward said the attorney general would establish a $1.776 billion fund. ### What is the anti-weaponization fund, exactly? (thehill.com) The fund was set up to compensate people who say they were harmed by a “weaponized” federal government, with reports putting its size at about $1.776 billion or roughly $1.8 billion. Los Angeles Times reporting, carried by MSN, said many people convicted in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack were seeking payouts from it. (cnbc.com) A federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, temporarily blocked the administration from making payouts or moving forward with the fund while litigation continues. Politico, USA Today and NBC Los Angeles all reported that the order halted the program at least for now. ### Who is challenging the settlement now? Thirty-five former federal judges asked the court to investigate whether Trump’s IRS settlement amounted to a fraud on the court, USA Today reported. (msn.com) Their filing argued that reopening the case would allow scrutiny of how the settlement was reached and whether the court had been misled. (politico.com) The next steps are already on the calendar in practical terms. The reopened IRS case will proceed before the federal court in Florida, while the Virginia litigation will determine whether the anti-weaponization fund can be created and whether any January 6 claimants can receive money. (thehill.com) (usatoday.com)