US Justice Department Investigates E. Jean Carroll for Perjury Over Litigation Funding
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened a criminal investigation into writer E. Jean Carroll, focusing on potential perjury in connection with her civil cases against Donald Trump.
The investigation centres on whether Carroll misrepresented the source of funding for her lawsuits. In a 2022 deposition, Carroll stated she received no external financial support for her legal action. However, legal documents filed by Trump's lawyers in 2023 revealed that Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, had assisted with some of Carroll's legal fees and expenses.
Carroll successfully sued Trump in two civil cases, both upheld on appeal, for sexual assault and defamation. Trump denies the accusations and has petitioned the US Supreme Court to overturn the first judgement, which ordered him to pay $5 million. A second lawsuit awarded Carroll $83 million.
Despite a US Court of Appeals for the Second District ruling in 2024 that Carroll had “plausibly represented” forgetting about “limited outside funding” and was “simply not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs,” the new criminal inquiry proceeds. The investigation is reportedly led by the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, linked to Hoffman's Chicago-based non-profit organisation.
Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously represented Trump in the appeal cases against Carroll, is reportedly recused from the new investigation.
