The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the magazine writer who won two defamation judgments against President Trump, examining whether she made false statements about the funding of her legal case, The Guardian reported Wednesday, citing CNN.
The investigation represents a significant escalation of Trump’s legal campaign against Carroll, who in 2023 and 2024 obtained jury verdicts finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. A federal jury in Manhattan awarded Carroll $5 million in 2023 after finding Trump had sexually abused her and defamed her. In 2024, a separate jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million for additional defamation. Trump has denied the allegations and has appealed both verdicts.
Carroll, now 82, first alleged in a 2019 memoir that Trump raped her in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s. Trump denied the accusation and said Carroll was “not my type,” a statement that later featured in the defamation proceedings. An appeals court wrote that Trump had “never wavered or relented in his public attacks” against Carroll.
The criminal probe focuses on whether Carroll made false statements about the funding of her lawsuit, according to The Guardian. Prosecutors are examining allegations that Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, provided financial support for Carroll’s legal representation. In a 2022 deposition, Carroll said she did not receive any support for her lawsuit. Such alleged false statements are rarely prosecuted in civil litigation, The Guardian reported.
The Carroll investigation is the latest in a string of federal inquiries targeting Trump’s perceived adversaries. The Justice Department has opened criminal investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James after her civil fraud case against the Trump Organization; former FBI Director James Comey over a social media post; and former National Security Adviser John Bolton over alleged mishandling of classified information. Federal prosecutors in Washington also briefly pursued an investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell after policy disputes with Trump, according to reports.
Carroll’s legal team and a spokesperson for the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment. The White House declined to comment.