AT A GLANCE
• Andrew Boutros, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, denied that his office opened a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll.
• Earlier media reports said federal prosecutors were examining whether Carroll lied during civil litigation against Donald Trump.
• Reporting later clarified that the focus was tied to a nonprofit backed by LinkedIn co founder Reid Hoffman, which helped fund Carroll’s case.
• Carroll has won two civil judgments against Trump, including a $5 million award in 2023 and an $83.3 million defamation award in 2024.
DOJ Inquiry Reportedly Focuses On A Reid Hoffman Linked Nonprofit Funding, Not Carroll
The top federal prosecutor in Chicago denied Thursday evening that his office had opened an investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the longtime advice columnist who has said Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in a New York department store nearly 30 years ago.
The denial came after multiple news organizations reported that the Justice Department was investigating whether Carroll had lied during the course of civil litigation against Trump.
Andrew Boutros, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said his office “has not opened — and has never opened — a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll.”
The Associated Press and other news organizations initially reported, citing anonymous sources, that federal prosecutors in Chicago had opened an investigation into Carroll involving possible perjury allegations.
A person familiar with the matter later clarified to AP that investigators were not focused on Carroll directly, but on a nonprofit that helped fund her case.
Multiple outlets, including The Washington Post and NBC News, reported that the inquiry was centered on a Chicago based organization backed by Reid Hoffman, the co founder of LinkedIn.
Related: DOJ Opens Investigation Into E. Jean Carroll Over Trump Civil Litigation
Carroll’s Lawsuits Against Trump
Carroll has said that a chance encounter with Trump in 1996 at Bergdorf Goodman’s Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan turned violent. She said Trump slammed her against a dressing room wall, pulled down her tights and forced himself on her.
Trump has denied the allegations and called them a “made up scam.” He has also claimed Carroll’s allegations were politically motivated or connected to efforts to promote her memoir.
A jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her, awarding her $5 million. In 2024, another jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in a separate defamation case tied to Trump’s social media posts about her.
Funding Questions Raised During Litigation
The reports this week centered on a statement Carroll made during civil litigation that no one else was paying her legal fees. It later became public that a Hoffman backed organization helped fund her case.
Trump’s lawyers accused Carroll of concealing that information, arguing it raised questions about whether the case was politically motivated.
A month before the first trial in 2023, then Trump attorney Alina Habba sought to delay the case, arguing that revelations about Hoffman’s partial funding raised questions about Carroll’s credibility and motivation.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the $5 million jury award on Dec. 30, 2024. In that ruling, the court addressed Trump’s argument that Carroll had lied during a deposition about who was funding her case.
The court cited Carroll’s explanation that when she was first asked about Hoffman’s contributions in 2022, she had forgotten about the limited outside funding received in September 2020.
The court said the record showed Carroll was not involved in decisions about who was funding her litigation costs.
Trump Appeal Still Pending
A court entry earlier this month said Trump will not have to pay the award until the U.S. Supreme Court has a chance to review the case or reject an appeal.
The appeals court agreed to let Trump delay payment, but required him to post a $7.4 million bond to cover additional interest costs, a request made by Carroll’s attorney.
