NEW YORK: Former US President Donald Trump should pay $83.3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for defamatory statements he made against her in 2019, a Manhattan federal jury has determined.
The nine New Yorkers - two women and seven men - ordered Trump on Friday to pay Carroll $11 million for a reputational repair program, $7.3 million in other compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages. The total is more than eight times what Carroll asked for in her initial lawsuit, Xinhua news agency reported.
Trump left the courthouse minutes before the verdict and was not inside the room when the jury returned.
On a Truth Social post, Trump blasted the verdict as "absolutely ridiculous" and said he would appeal the decision.
Friday's verdict marked the second time Carroll won damages from Trump at trial.
Last May, a separate Manhattan federal jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages, including nearly $3 million for defamation, after they found that Trump sexually abused Carroll and then defamed her in 2022 for public statements he made disparaging her and denying the allegations.
Carroll, a former magazine columnist, alleged that Trump raped her in a department store in the mid-1990s and then defamed her when he denied her claim.