Democratic billionaire donor Reid Hoffman has publicly said that a US justice department criminal investigation of donations he made in support of magazine columnist E Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse and defamation lawsuits against Donald Trump is designed to “silence” critics of the president.
It was reported recently that the justice department had opened a criminal inquiry into people involved in the lawsuits.
Carroll alleged that Trump sexually abused her in a Manhattan department store three decades ago, claims that resulted in her being awarded $5m in 2023 and a further $83m in a separate defamation lawsuit a year later. Trump has denied the claims, and the awards against him have been subject to appeals.
The Hoffman-affiliated non-profit organization American Future Republic has since been said to be under investigation by the government for payments to Kaplan Hecker & Fink, the litigation firm that represented Carroll.
The justice department has said that it does not comment on ongoing investigations. And attorney Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s lead lawyer, said in a statement from her firm that she “cannot comment at this time beyond what is already in the public record”.
Nonetheless, Hoffman wrote in an X post on Friday that Trump “is investigating me because I supported E Jean’s lawsuit”. The LinkedIn co-founder added on Substack that “Trump cannot be allowed to use the full weight and power of the US government to come after women who speak up, or anyone who supports them in doing so”.
Hoffman, whose fortune is estimated at $2.2bn, added: “The premise of the investigation would be laughable if the subject matter weren’t so serious. He is investigating me because I supported E Jean’s lawsuit – where a jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting her, and a court of appeals upheld the decision.”
He continued by calling on Trump to work on bringing gasoline prices down and solving “real problems” instead of, among other things, “launching retaliatory lawsuits”.
Hoffman said the president “hopes that these fraudulent investigations will silence those who stand up to him”.
“He is wrong,” Hoffman said. “I will not bend the knee.”
The investigation into Carroll’s lawsuits is reportedly reviewing statements she made in a deposition about that funding and whether she provided false information when she said her cases were being handled on a “contingency” basis.
Six months after the deposition, Carroll’s lawyer told the judge in the case and Trump’s attorneys that she “has recollected additional information”. They said Carroll “now recalls that at some point her counsel secured additional funding from a non-profit organization to offset certain expenses and legal fees”, according to court filings.
An appeals court found there was “no evidence” that Carroll was personally involved in securing the funding or interacted with the funder. The court also said there is no indication she received an invoice showing the arrangement before or after her counsel got the outside funding.
The probe itself has been subject to conflicting information. Chicago US attorney Andrew Boutros said his office had not opened a criminal investigation into Carroll.
Hoffman has long been a thorn in Trump’s side and poured millions into Democratic political candidates. He supported Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election that vaulted Trump to a second presidency.
Hoffman has since faced scrutiny over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Hoffman claimed his interactions with Epstein – who was a former friend of Trump, too – ended in 2015. Emails released as part of a congressional mandate show he visited Epstein’s Caribbean island in 2014 and held additional meetings until 2018.
Trump in November said he would ask the then attorney general Pam Bondi, the justice department and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s involvement with several prominent Democrats, including Hoffman, “to determine what was going on with them, and him”.
At the time, Hoffman described Trump’s investigation threat “baseless” and said he had “never had any engagement” with Epstein other than fundraising for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The reported justice department inquiry into Hoffman’s donations comes as the US supreme court is considering whether to hear a case against Carroll’s $5m jury award. Trump has also indicated he will also seek to take the $83m judgment to the supreme court.
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