E Jean Carroll swore under oath that nobody was funding her lawsuit against Donald Trump.
Her own lawyer knew that was a lie – and said nothing for six months.
Now New York gave Carroll's lawyer her answer – and a watchdog group is calling it a coverup.
Roberta Kaplan Sat on Carroll Perjury Claim for Six Months Before Telling the Court
E. Jean Carroll is the writer who claimed Trump sexually assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s – a claim so vague she couldn't even remember what year it supposedly happened.
Two juries still handed her $5 million in the assault case and another $83.3 million in a separate defamation suit against Trump.
In October 2022, Carroll sat in a deposition and answered "No" when asked whether anyone else was paying her legal fees.
That answer was false – and her attorney Roberta Kaplan knew it the moment Carroll said it.
Tax filings from 2023 show that Big Tech Billionaire Reid Hoffman's nonprofit, American Future Republic, paid $7 million to Carroll's lawyers to cover legal expenses.
Kaplan knew the truth for nearly six months and stayed quiet – breaking her silence only when trial was days away.
The National Legal and Policy Center filed a bar complaint against Kaplan in July, accusing her of violating New York's rules of professional conduct by misleading the court about Hoffman's role.
The Attorney Grievance Committee dismissed it in August without conducting any investigation.
Paul Kamenar, chief counsel for the National Legal and Policy Center, filed an appeal this week and called the dismissal inexcusable.
Committee Chief Counsel Jorge Dopico brushed it off, claiming the matter had already been addressed by the trial court.
Kamenar rejected that excuse directly: the court only examined whether Carroll personally knew about the funding – not whether Kaplan had an obligation to correct her client's false testimony on the spot.
"If the committee does not reverse the summary dismissal of our complaint, it smacks of a coverup," Kamenar told The Daily Signal.
Reid Hoffman Epstein Ties and the DOJ Investigation New York Wants to Ignore
Reid Hoffman wrote the check and expected the case to do its damage quietly.
The LinkedIn co-founder and Democrat megadonor funneled that money through his nonprofit to fund Carroll's legal campaign against Trump.
Hoffman claims he never tried to hide his role and simply wanted Carroll's voice heard against someone wealthier and more powerful.
What Hoffman hasn't explained is why that voice needed $7 million in secret backing from a man with documented ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Documents released through the Epstein files show Hoffman maintained an ongoing relationship with the convicted sex offender for years after Epstein's 2008 guilty plea – phone dates, sushi dinners, Skype calls, and a visit to Epstein's private island in 2014.
The Washington Free Beacon reported in February that Hoffman's own calendar entries contradict his claims of only a "few interactions" with Epstein, with documented meetings running through early 2019.
Trump ordered an investigation into Hoffman after the Epstein files dropped in late 2025, saying flat out: "Hoffman, in my opinion, should be under investigation."
Now the same man who funded that operation against Trump's reputation is getting cover from a bar committee that closed an ethics complaint in 32 days without asking a single question.
How American Future Republic Bought the Lawsuit New York Will Not Investigate
This is what a political hit job looks like when the legal machinery is being weaponized.
A Democrat billionaire with Epstein baggage quietly bankrolls a lawsuit against a Republican presidential candidate – through a nonprofit, off the books, until trial day arrives.
The bar committee – operating inside the same New York legal system that handed Carroll $83.3 million – closes the ethics complaint in a month without one phone call made.
The playbook is simple: wire the money through a nonprofit, let the plaintiff lie about it under oath, and count on New York to bury the complaint before anyone asks a question.
Seven states enacted new disclosure laws in 2025 to stop exactly this kind of operation.
New York closed an ethics complaint in 32 days instead.
Sources:
- Fred Lucas, "Legal Fight Escalates Over Leftist Billionaire's Funding of E. Jean Carroll's Lawsuit Against Trump," The Daily Signal, September 1, 2026.
- Fred Lucas, "Leftist Billionaire's Bankrolling of E. Jean Carroll's Case Against Trump Draws Ethics Complaint," The Daily Signal, July 12, 2026.
- Paul Kamenar, "Bar Complaint Filed Against E. Jean Carroll's Lawyer Roberta Kaplan," National Legal and Policy Center, July 13, 2026.
- "Skype, Sushi, and a 'Phone Date': Democratic Megadonor Reid Hoffman Maintained Jeffrey Epstein Relationship Years After He Said It Ended," Washington Free Beacon, February 2, 2026.
