She was challenging someone vastly wealthier and more powerful
In the long and contested intersection of wealth, law, and political power, the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into a nonprofit linked to billionaire Reid Hoffman that helped finance E. Jean Carroll's civil litigation against President Trump. The Chicago U.S. Attorney's Office is examining whether the American Future Republic — which disclosed a $7 million payment to Carroll's law firm — engaged in money laundering, conspiracy, or obstruction in channeling that support. Carroll herself is not a target, and the appeals courts have already found the funding question immaterial to her cases, both of which produced jury verdicts against Trump that survived review. The inquiry arrives at a peculiar moment: the acting Attorney General overseeing the DOJ once represented Trump in the very appeals now shadowed by this probe.
- A federal criminal investigation has been opened into the nonprofit machinery that bankrolled Carroll's landmark civil victories over Trump, raising the stakes of an already extraordinary legal saga.
- The probe targets not Carroll but the financial architecture behind her litigation — specifically whether Hoffman's American Future Republic laundered or conspired in routing $7 million to her legal team.
- Carroll's own deposition statements about outside funding were once floated as potential perjury, but prosecutors have stepped back from that line, narrowing their focus to the nonprofit's operations.
- Acting AG Todd Blanche's recusal — given his prior role defending Trump in Carroll's appeals — injects a layer of institutional complexity into who ultimately oversees this investigation.
- Two jury verdicts totaling over $88 million against Trump, both upheld on appeal, now exist alongside a federal criminal inquiry into the funding that helped make those verdicts possible.
The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the American Future Republic, a nonprofit chaired by billionaire Reid Hoffman, over its financial support for E. Jean Carroll's civil litigation against President Trump. The Chicago U.S. Attorney's Office is examining potential money laundering, conspiracy, and obstruction — not Carroll herself, but the mechanisms through which the nonprofit channeled resources to her legal team.
Hoffman's involvement became public in May 2023, when he told the Washington Post that his team chose to back Carroll because she was taking on someone far wealthier and more powerful. The nonprofit's 2020 tax filing had already disclosed a $7 million payment to Kaplan Hecker & Fink, Carroll's law firm. Trump's attorneys raised the funding question just before the first trial, arguing it cast doubt on Carroll's credibility — but the Second Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, finding the funding immaterial and concluding Carroll had simply been unaware of the outside support her counsel had arranged.
Carroll's two civil cases against Trump produced substantial results: a 2023 jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation, awarding $5 million, while a 2024 jury awarded $83.3 million for defamation related to earlier statements. Both verdicts survived appeal. Though the investigation once included a perjury angle related to Carroll's deposition, prosecutors are no longer pursuing that thread. U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros stated plainly that Carroll is not under investigation.
Adding institutional complexity to the matter, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — who represented Trump during the Carroll appeals — is recused from the Chicago probe. The investigation represents an unusual federal turn in a legal story that has already run its course through two juries and multiple appellate courts.
The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into a nonprofit controlled by billionaire Reid Hoffman that helped pay for E. Jean Carroll's legal fight against President Trump. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago is examining the American Future Republic, the organization Hoffman chairs, on suspicion of money laundering, conspiracy, and obstruction. The investigation does not target Carroll herself, according to sources familiar with the matter, but rather focuses on how the nonprofit channeled money to support her litigation expenses.
The probe centers on American Future Republic's financial support for Carroll's legal team. In its 2020 tax filing, the nonprofit disclosed that it provided $7 million to Kaplan Hecker & Fink, the law firm representing Carroll in her civil cases against Trump. Hoffman, who serves as president and chairman of the board, first revealed his involvement in an interview with the Washington Post in May 2023, explaining that his team decided to back Carroll's legal action because she was challenging someone vastly wealthier and more powerful. "We didn't encourage the lawsuit to happen," Hoffman said at the time. "We only got on board after she'd already filed."
Carroll's litigation against Trump spans two separate civil cases. In the first, decided in 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, awarding Carroll $5 million in damages. A second jury in 2024 found him liable for defamation related to earlier statements, awarding her $83.3 million. Both judgments survived appeal. Carroll had accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s, an account she published in New York Magazine in 2019. Trump denied the allegations and said she was not his type.
When Trump's attorneys first disclosed Hoffman's financial backing in legal papers filed in April 2023, just before the initial trial, they argued it raised questions about Carroll's credibility. They pointed to her deposition statements about outside funding as potentially misleading. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, however, found that Carroll had "plausibly represented" she had simply forgotten about the limited outside funding her counsel had obtained. The court concluded that litigation funding was not relevant to the case and that Carroll "simply was not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs."
The Chicago investigation initially included allegations that Carroll had committed perjury during her deposition regarding the funding question. However, sources confirmed that prosecutors are not currently pursuing that line of inquiry. Instead, the focus remains on the nonprofit's operations and the mechanisms through which it provided financial support. The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Andrew Boutros, issued a statement clarifying that Carroll herself is not under investigation, calling any claim to the contrary "categorically false."
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who represented Trump during the appeals process in Carroll's cases, is recused from the Chicago investigation, according to sources. Carroll's counsel declined to comment on the matter. The American Future Republic is based in Chicago, placing it within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Attorney's Office leading the probe. The investigation marks an unusual turn in a legal saga that has already produced two jury verdicts against Trump and survived appellate review.
Citações Notáveis
We didn't encourage the lawsuit to happen. We only got on board after she'd already filed.— Reid Hoffman, explaining his nonprofit's decision to fund Carroll's litigation
Carroll simply was not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs.— U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 2024 ruling on Carroll's deposition statements
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
So the investigation isn't about whether Carroll lied under oath?
Not anymore. That was part of the original referral, but prosecutors in Chicago decided not to pursue it. The focus shifted to how Hoffman's nonprofit actually moved the money.
But the appeals court already said her deposition answers about funding weren't misleading—that she just didn't know the details.
Exactly. The court found she wasn't involved in the funding decisions at all. So the perjury angle didn't have much traction legally. What prosecutors seem interested in now is whether the nonprofit itself operated improperly.
What would improper operation look like? Hoffman gave money to her lawyers. Isn't that legal?
Litigation funding itself is legal. But the investigation is looking at money laundering and conspiracy charges, which suggests prosecutors may believe the funds were structured or moved in ways that violated law, or that there was coordination that crossed some line.
Why would Hoffman need to hide it? He was open about it.
He was open about it after the fact. But the timing matters—the nonprofit's involvement wasn't disclosed until Trump's lawyers brought it up in court filings. That gap between when the funding happened and when it became public might be part of what investigators are examining.
And Blanche being recused—what does that signal?
It signals potential sensitivity. Blanche represented Trump in the appeals, so he has a direct conflict. His recusal suggests the department is trying to avoid any appearance that the investigation is retaliatory or politically motivated, even though that's exactly how it might look to some people.