A federal judge in the United States has upheld a $5 million verdict that Jean Carroll was due in her lawsuit against Donald Trump after a jury found the president guilty of sexually assaulting and defaming a former Elle magazine columnist.

The decision was made by a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan.

The May 2023 verdict stems from a 1996 incident at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan. Carroll said Trump raped her, and he called her claim a hoax on The Social Truth Network in October 2022.

The jury did not find rape, but awarded $2.02 million for sexual assault and $2.98 million for defamation. Another jury, in January 2024, ruled that Trump should pay Carroll $83.3 million in defamation damages for statements he made in June 2019, when he first denied her story.

Trump claimed he did not know Carroll, that she was “not his type,” and that the story was fabricated to promote his book. He appealed the $83.3 million verdict.

The lawsuits continue despite Trump being re-elected president on November 5.