What criminal investigations into Donald Trump related to sexual misconduct have been documented and what were their outcomes?
Executive summary
A large number of women have accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct across decades, but reporting and court records in the supplied sources show those allegations have produced largely civil litigation rather than criminal prosecutions; most resulted in dismissals, settlements, or jury findings in civil court rather than criminal charges or convictions [1] [2] [3]. The highest‑profile legal outcome so far is a New York civil jury finding Trump liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll and for defaming her, which produced monetary damages but was not a criminal conviction [4] [5] [6].
1. The E. Jean Carroll case: civil liability, a $5M verdict, appeals and additional damages
E. Jean Carroll’s allegation that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in a department‑store dressing room in the mid‑1990s produced a civil trial in Manhattan where a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation and awarded Carroll roughly $5 million in damages in May 2023; that finding was a civil verdict, not a criminal conviction, and Trump’s legal team pursued appeals [4] [6] [5]. Subsequent reporting and summaries note later rulings ordering additional damages to Carroll, with one source indicating an order for an additional $83.3 million in damages as of January 26, 2024, reflecting continuing civil remedies rather than criminal penalties [2].
2. Other civil suits and dropped claims: Harth, Zervos, Ivana and more
Several other women brought civil claims or public allegations that led to litigation or settlements rather than criminal indictments: businesswoman Jill Harth sued in the late 1990s alleging sexual harassment and attempted rape but ultimately settled or dropped parts of her case, and former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos filed a defamation suit after Trump denied her allegations and later withdrew that civil defamation case [2] [3]. Ivana Trump’s 1990 allegation of rape during her divorce was reported and later recanted, and has not produced a criminal prosecution in the record provided [2].
3. Criminal investigations — what the record shows and what it does not
Among the sources reviewed, there is no documentation of a criminal prosecution of Donald Trump for sexual misconduct; multiple outlets explicitly state he has never been criminally charged for sexual misconduct allegations despite numerous public accusations and civil suits [3] [1]. Coverage catalogs dozens of accusers and incidents, and some advocates and journalists have called for investigations, but the public record in these sources shows resolution largely through civil litigation, media reporting, and public denunciations rather than criminal indictments [7] [8].
4. Why civil courts, not criminal courts, have been the forum — evidentiary and strategic realities
Legal observers and advocacy resources underscore that sexual‑misconduct allegations often proceed in civil courts because of evidentiary hurdles, statutes of limitations, and prosecutorial priorities; analysis of the Carroll trial highlights how “other acts” evidence and civil‑standards of proof (preponderance or clear and convincing in defamation) produced a jury verdict where criminal proof beyond a reasonable doubt was not at issue [9] [4]. These structural differences help explain why the most consequential legal outcomes to date have been civil judgments and settlements rather than criminal convictions [9].
5. Competing narratives and political context
Trump and his allies have consistently denied the allegations and characterized them as politically motivated or fabricated, and the campaign and legal teams have framed litigation as part of a broader media and political campaign against him [2] [8]. At the same time, advocacy groups, plaintiffs’ attorneys and some news organizations interpret the aggregation of accusations and the Carroll verdict as evidence of a pattern; sources documenting the verdict emphasize the jury’s language finding sexual abuse and defamation while other commentators debate characterization and legal labels such as “rape” versus “sexual abuse” [5] [4] [3].
6. What remains uncertain in the public record provided
The supplied sources document many allegations, several civil suits, a landmark civil verdict, and subsequent damages awards, but they do not document any criminal indictment or criminal conviction of Trump for sexual misconduct; if criminal investigations occurred without public outcomes, those are not visible in this reporting and cannot be asserted here [1] [3] [2]. The landscape remains legally active in civil courts and politically fraught, and appeals and new civil claims have continued to change the legal picture after the earliest verdicts [6] [2].