Supreme Court rejects final Trump appeal of $5 million E. Jean Carroll verdict
E. Jean Carroll leaves the courthouse on Sept. 6, 2024, in New York City. (Alex Kent/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Monday declined a request from President Donald Trump to reconsider its rejection of his appeal in the 2023 E. Jean Carroll case.
The decision means it’s the end of the line for Trump’s bid to overturn a $5 million jury award to Carroll, which the writer’s representatives said was paid in July.
The Court did not explain its decision and there were no noted dissents. No request for a rehearing has been granted since the 1960s.
A jury determined in 2023 that Trump was liable for sexually abusing Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, and that he defamed her in a 2022 social media post by calling her allegations “a Hoax and a lie” and saying “This woman is not my type!”
In 2024, following a separate trial, Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million in damages to Carroll for defaming her in 2019 when he denied her allegations of sexual abuse.
Trump, who denies any wrongdoing, is continuing to appeal that judgment with a petition to the justices currently pending. They are expected to decide later this year whether or not to take up the case.
In his appeal, Trump alleges that his 2019 comments about Carroll — which were later found to be defamatory — were “official” statements as president and therefore immune from use in a legal case against him.
The Old Main building on the campus of Penn State University, Oct. 11, 2024, in State College, Pennsylvania. (Dmitry Vinogradov/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Charges were announced Monday against 14 people in connection with an alleged cocaine-trafficking operation involving students associated with two Penn State fraternities, the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office said.
Thirteen current or former students, as well as a student’s father, face felony or misdemeanor charges, according to a press release. At least four defendants are current students, the attorney general’s office said.
“This was a coordinated and highly profitable drug-trafficking crew revolving around two senior members of the fraternities, other fraternity brothers, and pledges,” Attorney General Dave Sunday said in a statement. “In fact, according to the evidence uncovered, cutting and packaging cocaine was, for some pledges, an indoctrination into the fraternities.”
Penn State officials placed the Delta Upsilon fraternity on an interim suspension, the school said in a statement. The other fraternity, Sigma Chi, where members were allegedly involved, is not recognized as an official fraternity at the school, the statement said.
The allegations stem from 2023 and 2024, Penn State said, adding that both fraternities operate off campus.
The investigation, which the attorney general dubbed “Operation Drugs Unlimited,” found that two members of the group — Agostino Abbatiello and Thomas Robinson — were alleged to have been the main suppliers to the group, roles that included “making regular trips to Philadelphia and New York for large quantities of cocaine,” officials said.
“The cocaine was then cut and packaged — primarily at the Delta Upsilon and Sigma Chi fraternity houses — and distributed mainly to Penn State University students,” according to the attorney general’s office.
Officials said they tracked how the cocaine was allegedly obtained, packaged and sold, saying, “Most of the payments were made in cash or via payment apps.”
Abbatiello and Robinson, along with two others, Mohammed Hurabi and Lars Zeepvat, face charges including felony corrupt organizations, conspiracy, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity and related offenses, the office said. Another person, Robert Zanolla, faces charges of felony conspiracy and criminal use of a communication facility, as well as related misdemeanors, the office said.
The eight remaining student-age defendants face misdemeanor counts of possession and possession of drug paraphernalia, the office said.
“Paul Robinson is charged with felony tampering, hindering apprehension for taking steps to conceal evidence, including a safe containing drugs and cash, and obstructing the investigation,” the release said, identifying him as the father of one of the students.
The charges were announced by Sunday’s office in cooperation with the State College Police Department and the 54th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury.
“We are horrified by these serious allegations against current and former students,” said Andrea Dowhower, Penn State’s vice president for Student Affairs, in a statement.
Dowhower added, “Criminal activity, including hazing, such as this has no place at our institution, and we will cooperate with law enforcement in any way we can. We will continue to enhance our efforts around health and safety and hazing educational efforts for all our organizations.”
A JetBlue plane prepares to take off from the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on July 16, 2020 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A JetBlue Airways pilot reported hitting a drone as the flight was on approach for landing at JFK Airport on Monday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The plane landed safely and the FAA said no damage was found during inspections. The agency will investigate the incident, it noted in its statement.
Jeffrey Epstein is seen in a photo released by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice. (New York State Sex Offender Registry)
(NEW YORK) — The House Oversight Committee is conducting a closed-door interview Tuesday with a woman so ubiquitous in Jeffrey Epstein’s life that a search for her name in the Justice Department’s Epstein files returns more than 160,000 results.
Lesley Groff worked as an executive secretary to Epstein in New York for more than 18 years, and was once described by her boss as an “extension of my brain.”
Among her job requirements were scheduling Epstein’s frequent meetings with celebrities, scientists and politicians, booking Epstein’s daily massage appointments when he was in New York, and arranging travel for women linked to Epstein. She was one of four women listed as potential co-conspirators in Epstein’s controversial non-prosecution agreement in 2007.
According to federal prosecutors, “numerous victims [of Epstein] had indicated that she was responsible for scheduling massages during which they were sexually abused.”
Groff is appearing as part of the committee’s ongoing inquiry into the federal government’s handling of investigations into Epstein and his alleged co-conspirators, which to date has included interviews with former Attorney General Pam Bondi, Epstein’s longtime personal assistant Sarah Kellen, and a prison guard who was on duty the night Epstein died in his jail cell.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer said on his way in Tuesday morning that he believes Groff has “information that is very valuable to our investigation.”
“Hopefully, we’ll learn more today,” Comer said.
The chairman reiterated that the committee is conducting “the most thorough investigation ever of Epstein.”
“We’re bringing in the most important people in the whole Epstein criminal enterprise that are still alive, and hopefully we’ll get the truth to the American people. If there’s an opportunity for accountability, we sure want to see that happen,” he said.
Groff did not speak to reporters upon her arrival.
Last September at a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol, Epstein survivor Marina Lacerda specifically called out Groff, alleging that Groff had called her so many times to go to Epstein’s place for a massage that she dropped out of high school before the ninth grade.
Lacerda — who was one of the key witnesses that led to Epstein’s 2019 indictment for child sex trafficking — told ABC News in an interview this week that Groff was the conduit to Epstein.
“Anything that had to do with Jeffrey Epstein, ” Lacerda told ABC News in an interview, “had to go through Lesley Groff.”
Through her attorneys, Groff has denied any knowledge of, or participation in, Epstein’s crimes.
Michael Bachner, a lawyer for Groff, declined comment in advance of her appearance on Capitol Hill. He previously told ABC News that Groff “never knowingly booked travel for anyone under the age of 18, and had no knowledge of the alleged illegal activity whatsoever.”
“Ms. Groff, a parent herself, is incredibly shocked and deeply upset about the alleged wrongdoings of Mr. Epstein,” Bachner said.
After Epstein’s arrest in July 2019, federal prosecutors included Groff in a list of potential co-conspirators and sent her a subpoena. Bachner informed the government, just four days after Epstein’s arrest, that his client “would invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination” if called to appear before a grand jury.
Groff, now 59, eventually interviewed with the investigators two years later, telling prosecutors that “making massage appointments was just another appointment she had to make” for Epstein, and said that scheduling massages was “around 1%” of her job.
Groff, who was hired by Epstein in 2001, told the FBI she was immediately struck by Epstein’s lifestyle and the company he kept, describing it as “pretty incredible to see all the people Epstein dealt with in politics, television, et cetera.”
“Groff felt, ‘Wow,'” according to an FBI account of her interview.
Groff was initially paid a salary of $60,000 a year, but saw it doubled to $120,000 by Epstein four years later, DOJ records show.
The New York Times reported in 2005 that Epstein bought Groff a new Mercedes and paid for a nanny to ensure she would keep working for him.
“There is no way that I could lose Lesley to motherhood,” Epstein said of Groff, according to the newspaper’s account.
Banking records included in the DOJ’s Epstein files indicate that Groff also received three payments of $100,000 and one for $110,000 from Epstein companies between 2016 and 2018, though the records do not indicate the reasons for the payments.
Bachner told the government that Groff stayed with Epstein after his first arrest in Florida in 2006 because she believed him when he said that “someone was trying to blackmail him.”
When he was again arrested in 2019, she resigned, her lawyer told prosecutors.
“She felt betrayed and disgusted once the indictment came out,” Bachner wrote.
According to documents released by the Justice Department in response to the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, one victim — who was a minor at the time of her alleged abuse — told the FBI that she felt Groff “knew that the massage appointments were sexual” and “felt it was pretty obvious Lesley knew what was going on,” according to the DOJ records.
Federal prosecutors in 2021 informed Groff that she would not be charged, according to a statement from her attorneys.
“After a more than two-year investigation by the Department of Justice into Jeffrey Epstein’s conduct, which included lengthy interviews of witnesses and a thorough review of relevant communications, we have been informed that no criminal charges will be brought against Lesley Groff,” the statement said.
Lacerda said she hopes the congressional investigators press Groff for answers.
“I just think that she should be honest about it so that we can have some accountability here,” she said.
Oversight Committee member Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) said he’s heading into the interview with Groff already skeptical of her denials.
“She will argue that she didn’t know anything, but I find that to be hard to believe,” he said. “I think at best she was blissfully trying to be ignorant, but probably wasn’t.”
