The Justice Department has opened a criminal inquiry into E. Jean Carroll to determine if she committed perjury in her civil lawsuits against President Donald Trump.
The investigation is focused on her testimony in 2022, where she said she did not receive any outside financial help for her civil lawsuits against the president, Reuters reported. One of these suits claimed Trump sexually abused Carroll in a New York department store in the 1990s and another case alleged defamation in 2019.
Billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman informed the judge and Trump’s lawyers that a nonprofit he funded helped pay some legal expenses, according to the outlet. Hoffman had made a grant of an unspecified amount that helped E. Jean Carroll pay for her legal expenses, the New York Times first reported in 2023.
Hoffman is a prominent individual with ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. He visited Epstein’s private island in 2014 after Epstein pleaded guilty to charges in 2008. The billionaire is also a notable Democratic megadonor who has given tens of millions of dollars to Democratic candidates and causes, including nearly $700,000 to the Biden Victory Fund.
Carroll’s lawyers have said they never spoke or met with anyone from the nonprofit, the Guardian reported.
Trump was found liable for defamation and battery, but not rape, and Carroll received $5 million in damages from her lawsuit about Trump sexually abusing her in a New York Department store. In January of 2024, a civil lawsuit foundTrump defamed her and ordered $83.3 million in damages.
Trump claimed Carroll and the jury were interfering with the 2024 presidential election through the case brought against him.
The probe is being led by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago but may not lead to charges being brought against Carroll, Reuters reported.
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