Which sexual‑assault allegations against Donald Trump resulted in public civil or criminal filings and what were their outcomes?
Executive summary
A limited number of sexual‑assault accusations against Donald Trump produced public civil filings; the most consequential was writer E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuits that resulted in civil liability and multi‑million‑dollar awards, while several other reported accusations either led to dismissed suits, withdrawn cases or defamation claims that proceeded but did not produce criminal charges — Trump has not been criminally charged for sexual misconduct according to available reporting [1] [2] [3]. This account separates the cases that reached courts from numerous public allegations that did not produce public filings or that were settled or dismissed, and it notes competing narratives and legal limits such as statutes of limitation and the different standards in civil versus criminal law [4] [5].
1. E. Jean Carroll — civil trials, jury verdicts and appeals
E. Jean Carroll publicly accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a department‑store dressing room in the mid‑1990s and sued him first for defamation in 2019 and then again in 2022 adding a battery claim under New York’s Adult Survivors Act; a New York jury in May 2023 found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation and awarded Carroll $5 million, a judgment that was later upheld on appeal by a federal court which reinforced the civil finding of sexual abuse and the damages [1] [5] [2]. Additional proceedings and a separate jury decision produced substantially higher defamation damages that have been reported as an $83.3 million penalty later upheld by an appeals court in reporting from 2025, reflecting evolving remedies tied to Trump’s post‑accusation statements and the courts’ assessment of malice in his public denials [6].
2. ‘Katie Johnson’ / ‘Jane Doe’ Epstein‑linked lawsuit — filed and dismissed
An anonymous plaintiff using the pseudonym “Katie Johnson” filed a 2016 California lawsuit alleging rape by Trump and Jeffrey Epstein when she was 13, and a subsequent filing as “Jane Doe” in New York claimed assault at multiple 1994 parties; those early suits were dismissed in quick order, with reporting noting the California case was dismissed the following month and the New York filing did not produce a sustained civil judgment against Trump [7]. Reporting here documents the existence of the filings and their dismissal but does not permit a broader factfinding beyond the court outcomes reflected in the contemporaneous press summaries [7].
3. Jill Harth and other early civil complaints — withdrawals and settlements
Jill Harth filed a high‑profile sexual‑harassment lawsuit against Trump in 1997 alleging groping and harassment in 1993, but that suit was withdrawn after a parallel settlement involving her husband, and Harth has continued to assert that the conduct occurred even though the civil case did not produce a trial judgment against Trump [7] [8]. That pattern — a filed civil claim that is later withdrawn or settled without a contested trial — appears in other pre‑2010 complaints described in reporting, underscoring the limits of public litigation as a record of factual resolution [8].
4. Summer Zervos and defamation litigation — suit proceeded, mixed outcomes
Summer Zervos, a former Apprentice contestant, sued Trump for defamation in 2017 after he denied her allegation of unwanted sexual contact; courts allowed portions of that civil case to proceed, with reporting documenting the filing and the litigation surviving appeals although the materials here do not provide a final trial verdict within the cited sources [9] [8]. Available coverage shows the suit moved through New York courts and survived procedural hurdles, but the present records do not supply a final judgment in the materials provided for this summary [9] [8].
5. Criminal investigations and the absence of criminal convictions
Across reporting assembled here, Trump has not been criminally charged for sexual misconduct; major public cases that reached civil courts—most notably Carroll’s—were adjudicated under civil standards, not criminal law, and journalists and legal analysts have repeatedly emphasized that civil liability carries financial rather than criminal sanctions [3] [10]. Some allegations prompted police reports or public scrutiny, but sources explicitly note the lack of a criminal charge for sexual misconduct against Trump as of the cited coverage [3].
6. What these outcomes mean and competing narratives
The litigation record shows that only a small subset of the many public accusations resulted in sustained civil rulings — most prominently Carroll’s multi‑million‑dollar awards and appellate affirmations — while other claims were dismissed, withdrawn, settled or remain litigated without definitive public verdicts; defenders of the accusers view the civil findings as accountability, while Trump’s defenders and legal teams emphasize appeals, procedural defenses, and the differences between civil and criminal proof [2] [5] [10]. Reporting limitations mean this compilation cannot resolve factual disputes beyond what courts publicly decided or what filings state; readers should weigh the adjudicated judgments separately from allegations that did not result in judicial determinations [5] [7].