Which court cases or lawsuits have alleged Trump paid hush money or settlements to victims or their families?

1. Stormy Daniels and the Manhattan “hush‑money” criminal case

The centerpiece is the allegation that Trump directed his then‑lawyer Michael Cohen to pay adult‑film actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 shortly before the 2016 election and then falsified business records to conceal the reimbursement, an episode that spawned a Manhattan criminal prosecution in which Trump was convicted in 2024 of multiple counts of falsifying business records tied to that payment ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Prosecutors presented Cohen’s testimony that he paid Daniels at Trump’s direction and was reimbursed under false retainer entries, and the case focused on whether those bookkeeping entries were criminally falsified to hide the true purpose of the funds ^{[1] [5]}. The defense and some commentators have emphasized that a “hush‑money” payment as such is not per se illegal and have pursued appellate strategies including moving the case to federal court and invoking presidential immunity arguments ^{[6] [2] [7]}.

2. Michael Cohen’s guilty plea and related federal findings

Michael Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to campaign‑finance and other charges, admitting that he had paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels and $150,000 to another woman “at the direction of a candidate for federal office” with the purpose of influencing the election, and Congress and prosecutors used Cohen’s admissions as a factual linchpin in subsequent civil and criminal proceedings ^[1]. Cohen’s testimony and plea informed Manhattan prosecutors and became central evidence in the falsified business records indictment and trial that followed ^{[1] [5]}.

3. E. Jean Carroll’s civil lawsuits alleging sexual assault and defamation

Separately, author E. Jean Carroll sued Trump in civil court asserting he sexually assaulted her and then defamed her by denying the claim; juries found Trump civilly liable for sexual abuse and defamation in at least one of those suits, which produced monetary judgments against him ^[4]. Reporting indicates those civil findings are distinct from the Manhattan criminal case in both factual focus and legal theory — Carroll’s cases concern allegations of assault and related public statements rather than concealed election‑period payments — but they contributed to the broader record of accusations and courtroom rulings involving Trump and women ^[4].

4. Other reported payoffs, media involvement and limits of available reporting

Reporting has documented meetings and communications involving Trump associates, Michael Cohen, and media figures such as David Pecker of American Media Inc. about countering negative stories, and investigators have examined other alleged arrangements to silence or limit publicity about Trump’s relationships with women, but the public record in the supplied sources does not establish a separate court judgment against Trump for a paid settlement to another named woman beyond Daniels and the civil rulings in Carroll’s cases ^[1]. Some accounts reference payments or agreements involving the National Enquirer and claims by Karen McDougal, but the documents provided here do not contain a fully adjudicated court judgment tying Trump personally to an additional hush payment in litigation ^[1].

5. Defense narratives, legal pushback and unsettled appellate questions

Trump’s legal teams and some federal actors have argued the hush‑money prosecution was improper to the extent it allowed jurors to consider federal election law implications or evidence rooted in presidential communications, and appellate litigation has produced challenges over venue and presidential immunity that have reshaped post‑conviction proceedings ^{[8] [7]}. While prosecutors maintain their verdicts and Cohen’s admissions underpin the factual claims, courts and higher authorities have continued to review evidentiary and jurisdictional questions that bear on how those alleged payments are legally characterized and what remedies or penalties ultimately stand ^{[2] [8]}.