All articles tagged with #sexual abuse
After years of legal wrangling, Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll: the 2nd Circuit denied his bid to pause a district court order sending $5 million (plus interest) to Carroll as part of two verdicts totaling $88.3 million; the money sits in escrow, the Supreme Court declined to overturn the verdict, and Carroll's case moves toward full payment.
A federal judge ordered the release of $5.8 million held in escrow to writer E. Jean Carroll after the Supreme Court declined to hear Donald Trump’s appeal of a jury finding that he sexually abused and defamed her. The funds, plus interest, come from a 2023 verdict and have sat in court-ordered escrow for over three years even as Trump’s team pursued a rehearing. Separately, Carroll was awarded about $83.3 million in damages for defamation in another proceeding, which Trump is appealing to the Supreme Court as well. Judge Lewis Kaplan criticized Trump’s delays and said it was time to pay the judgment, prompting the release of the escrow funds.
An ex-girlfriend of Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner tells The Washington Post he repeatedly removed condoms during sex without her consent, despite her not using birth control. Platner’s campaign denies the allegations as politically motivated, and another woman has accused him of sexual assault, prompting calls for him to withdraw. Platner has denied all accusations but says the situation has impacted his campaign.
Adriana Rullan, 30, a former teacher at Antonio Gonzalez Middle School in Laredo, Texas, was sentenced by a Webb County jury to 33 years in prison after being convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 related to a relationship with a 13-year-old student; the sentences for indecency with a child and an improper educator-student relationship run concurrently and include $20,000 in fines. The case was supported by forensic cellphone data, photographs, and videos, with testimony from the victim and the mother detailing the emotional toll on the family. The investigation began in 2023, Rullan pleaded not guilty, and an appeal could be pursued.
The Supreme Court declined to review the 2023 civil verdict, so Carroll’s $5 million judgment against Trump for sexual abuse and defamation stands, while Trump also faces a separate $83.3 million award in the same case and ongoing debates over presidential immunity.
The Supreme Court declined to review Donald Trump’s appeal in the E. Jean Carroll case, leaving intact the 2023 jury verdict that awarded Carroll about $5 million in a sexual abuse and defamation civil suit. Trump argued presidential immunity and that the claims are decades old; the decision comes amid related immunity rulings that have affected other cases, and Carroll's civil win remains in force.
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Trump's bid to overturn the jury verdict that found he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and defamed her, allowing a $5 million award to stand.
Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24, freed after two years in Hamas captivity, describes brutal sexual assaults by his captors—including being stripped, taunted, groped, and threatened with a knife and gun—and says he was forced to profess love before his release; he is urging other survivors to come forward to empower others as one of the final hostages freed under a cease-fire.
Pope Leo XIV opened his seven-day Spain visit by praising the government’s anti-war stance and support for migrants, meeting King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, and planning an address to Parliament while meeting abuse victims and migrant-welfare groups; the trip also includes honoring migrants who died off the Canary Islands and highlights Spain’s progressive immigration policy.
Ohio State University reached a preliminary $100 million settlement with roughly 280 former student-athletes who allege sexual abuse by former campus doctor Richard Strauss (1978–1998). The board approved the agreement with all but one of the survivors still pursuing claims, building on prior settlements that totaled over $61 million for 317 survivors. If finalized, the accord could end a lengthy federal lawsuit filed in 2018 and closes a painful chapter for the university; Strauss died in 2005, and independent reviews previously found knowledge of complaints dating back to 1979.
Ohio State University’s board ratified a $100 million settlement with 279 of the 280 former students who alleged abuse by campus doctor Richard Strauss, bringing the total paid to 304 survivors and more than $60 million to date after earlier agreements. Strauss abused students from 1978 to 1998 and died by suicide in 2005; investigations found staff failures and prompted hundreds of lawsuits. Mediation continues as details are finalized.
David Burke, the 21-year-old singer known as D4vd, will undergo a late-June preliminary hearing on murder and sex-abuse charges in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whom prosecutors say he stabbed, dismembered and disposed of in his garage after a year of alleged abuse; the body was found in the trunk of a Tesla linked to Burke. His defense had sought an immediate hearing but paused as prosecutors provided extensive digital evidence. A status conference is set for June 17, with the full hearing expected to last several days.
On Jay Shetty's On Purpose podcast and in her forthcoming memoir, Hayden Panettiere recounts being led onto a boat at 18 into a room with an undressed, very famous man who pressured her to perform; she fled realizing she was in danger, feeling betrayed by a trusted person who placed her there; the memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning is due May 19.
Police in Colombo arrested 71-year-old Pallegama Hemarathana, a senior Buddhist monk and chief custodian of a revered Bodhi-tree temple, on allegations he sexually abused an 11-year-old girl in 2022 at a temple in Anuradhapura. The case prompted a foreign travel ban and the victim’s mother was arrested for allegedly aiding the monk; he is due in court soon, marking Sri Lanka’s most high-profile clergy abuse case to date.
Police in Sri Lanka arrested Pallegama Hemarathana, one of the country’s most senior Buddhist monks and chief custodian of a Bodhi-tree shrine, on suspicion of abusing a minor in 2022; the survivor’s mother was also arrested for alleged abetting. Hemarathana was taken from hospital and will appear in Colombo court as authorities imposed a travel ban while investigating an alleged abduction and prolonged sexual abuse of the girl. The case marks the highest‑ranking monk to face such allegations in Sri Lanka, arising after a March complaint and ongoing child-protection inquiries.