A statement issued Thursday by the office of U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros of the Northern District of Illinois denied the earlier reporting, originally broken as an exclusive by CNN, claiming that the office had opened an investigation into former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, who sued President Donald Trump over sexual abuse claims from the 1990s.
Boutros (pictured above) issued the statement, breaking from the typical U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) policy against commenting on the existence or status of investigations, citing “wide-spread reporting and intense media and public interest” in a social media post.
He stated, “The Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office can confirm that it has not opened—and has never opened—a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll. Any claim to the contrary is categorically false.”
The following is a statement by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois:
“In light of wide-spread reporting and intense media and public interest into the E. Jean Carroll matter in New York, the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office can confirm…
— U.S. Attorney’s Office (NDIL) (@NDILnews) May 28, 2026
The statement came amid reports indicating that an investigation remains ongoing, but Carroll was never the subject of the DOJ probe.
According to an anonymous source quoted in The Guardian, the investigation concerns the financial support Carroll received from American Future Republic, the nonprofit organization founded by LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic mega-donor Reid Hoffman.
Carroll claimed in a 2022 deposition that she received no financial support for her lawsuit against the president, which resulted in separate $5 million and $83 million judgments in her favor. But attorney Roberta Kaplan sent the Trump administration a letter in 2023 announcing that her client had recalled the additional financial support.
Public records additionally show Kaplan’s former law firm, Kaplan Hecker and Fink, received $7 million from Hoffman’s American Future Republic for the purpose of “public interest” litigation in 2020. Kaplan began representing Carroll in 2019.
Shortly after the prosecutor issued the statement denying an investigation into Carroll, reporting emerged from The Chicago Tribune, asserting the probe is not limited to American Future Republic’s dealings with Carroll.
The newspaper reported, citing a source with knowledge of the investigation, that investigators are focused on the nonprofit’s spending. As part of their focus, investigators have reportedly reviewed the episode in which American Future Republic provided funding to Carroll and considered whether she perjured herself during the 2022 deposition.
Though Kaplan left the firm Kaplan Hecker and Fink amid reported acrimony in July 2024, she appears to have maintained Carroll as a client at her current practice, where her biography references the case against Trump.
“On behalf of her client, E. Jean Carroll, Robbie has the distinction of being the only lawyer to have taken the deposition of President Donald J. Trump twice, and to have obtained two separate unanimous jury verdicts against him of $5 and $83.3 million respectively, with both juries reaching a verdict in less than three hours,” according to the Kaplin Martin biography for Kaplan.
Trump continued to deny Carroll’s claims and maintain his innocence after the first jury found him liable for defamation and sexual abuse, resulting in the $5 million ruling, and statements made after the trial resulted in a second jury awarding $83.3 million. The president has appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Despite apparently losing Carroll with Kaplan’s 2024 departure, her old law firm has since rebranded as Hecker Fink. Its clients now include former President Joe Biden, as well as Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the illegal alien from El Salvador deported amid controversy last year.
Hecker Fink attorneys were part of the team that convinced Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw to dismiss the federal human smuggling charges against Abrego Garcia, who determined that prosecutors failed to rebut the presumption of vindictive prosecution.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
