2026-05-28T17:34:00-0400 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
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更新于：2026年5月28日 / 美国东部时间下午6:48 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
据数位知情人士向哥伦比亚广播公司新闻透露，美国司法部已对亿万里德·霍夫曼运营的一家非营利组织展开刑事调查，该组织曾为作家伊·珍·卡罗尔针对特朗普总统的民事诉讼提供了部分资金支持。
知情人士称，此次调查由芝加哥美国检察官办公室牵头，正在排查可能涉及洗钱、共谋和妨碍司法等罪行。
哥伦比亚广播新闻无法立即得知启动调查的缘由，也无法确定本案的法律理论。记者未能立即联系到霍夫曼置评。
周三晚间，一位知情人士告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，调查的重点是卡罗尔在与其针对特朗普的民事诉讼相关的证词中是否作伪证，卡罗尔在诉讼中指控特朗普性侵并诽谤她。
但周四，该消息人士补充称，卡罗尔并非此次调查的目标，调查聚焦于霍夫曼旗下非营利组织“美国未来共和国”为支付她的部分法律团队费用所提供的资金。
周四晚间，在本报道发布后，伊利诺伊州北区美国检察官安德鲁·布特罗斯在X平台上发表声明称：“鉴于纽约地区有关伊·珍·卡罗尔事件的广泛报道以及媒体和公众的高度关注，芝加哥美国检察官办公室可以确认，我们尚未也从未针对伊·珍·卡罗尔开启过刑事调查。任何相反说法均纯属虚假。”
另有两位独立消息人士证实，调查的目标是“美国未来共和国”。其中一位消息人士补充道，尽管针对卡罗尔的伪证指控是芝加哥美国检察官办公室今年早些时候收到的最初转介材料的一部分，但检察官目前并未沿这一方向展开调查。
卡罗尔的代理律师拒绝置评。
卡罗尔指控特朗普于20世纪90年代中期在纽约市一家百货公司的试衣间内对其实施性侵，并于2019年在《纽约》杂志上发表了相关遭遇的叙述。特朗普随后否认曾性侵她，并称卡罗尔不是他的“类型”。2019年，卡罗尔以诽谤罪起诉特朗普，但该案在法庭陷入停滞。
她随后于2022年提起第二起诽谤诉讼，并根据纽约州《成年幸存者法案》新增了一项强奸指控。
卡罗尔在两起民事诉讼中起诉特朗普，指控其性侵和诽谤。2023年，陪审团认定特朗普就2022年发表的言论对卡罗尔实施性虐待和诽谤的民事责任成立，卡罗尔获得500万美元损害赔偿。
2024年的另一个陪审团认定特朗普就2019年针对卡罗尔的言论构成诽谤，判其向卡罗尔支付8330万美元损害赔偿。两项判决均在上诉中得到维持。
一位消息人士补充道，代理过部分上诉阶段诉讼的代理司法部长托德·布兰奇，在此案中因涉及卡罗尔及其诉讼资金一事而需要回避。
据《纽约时报》报道，特朗普的律师团队在2023年4月，也就是第一起诽谤诉讼庭审前夕提交的法律文件中，首次披露了霍夫曼为卡罗尔的诉讼提供资金支持的情况。
当特朗普的律师团队在上诉中提及这一问题时，上诉法院认定卡罗尔在证词中“合理地表示”她“忘记了律师获得的有限外部资金一事”。
美国第二巡回上诉法院在2024年的裁决中写道：“相反，证据表明卡罗尔女士完全没有参与谁为其诉讼成本提供资金的相关事宜。”
特朗普的律师当时曾辩称，她就外部资金所作的不实陈述引发了其可信度方面的质疑，但法院认为诉讼资金与本案无关。
根据税务记录，霍夫曼是“美国未来共和国”的总裁兼董事会主席。该组织在2020年的990表格申报中披露，其向代表卡罗尔的凯普兰·赫克勒&芬克律师事务所提供了700万美元资金。
该非营利组织总部位于芝加哥。
在2023年5月接受《华盛顿邮报》采访时，霍夫曼解释了他为何选择资助卡罗尔的法律诉讼，他表示：“我们并没有鼓励这场诉讼发生——我们是在她已经提起诉讼后才加入的。”
“我的团队研究了这个案子，认为她的声音应该被听到，因为她挑战的是一位远比她富有和有权势的人，这场诉讼不应该被扼杀，”霍夫曼说道。
Justice Dept. investigating outside funding E. Jean Carroll received for civil lawsuits against Trump
2026-05-28T17:34:00-0400 / CBS News
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Updated on: May 28, 2026 / 6:48 PM EDT / CBS News
The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into a nonprofit run by billionaire Reid Hoffman that funded a portion of author E. Jean Carroll’s civil litigation against President Trump, several sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
The investigation, which is being led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, is looking into possible crimes including money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction, the sources said.
CBS News could not immediately learn what prompted the investigation or determine the legal theory of the case. Hoffman could not be immediately reached for comment.
E. Jean Carroll Steven Ferdman / Getty Images
On Wednesday evening, a source familiar with the matter told CBS News that the investigation was focused on whether Carroll had committed perjury during a deposition in connection with her civil lawsuits against Mr. Trump in which she alleged he had sexually abused and defamed her.
On Thursday, however, that source followed up and said Carroll is not the target of the investigation, which is focused on funding that Hoffman’s nonprofit, American Future Republic, provided to help cover some of her legal team’s expenses.
On Thursday evening, after this report published, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Andrew Boutros, said in a statement on X: “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 that it has not opened—and has never opened—a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll. Any claim to the contrary is categorically false.”
Two separate sources also confirmed that the probe is focused on the American Future Republic. One of the sources added that while the perjury allegations against Carroll were part of the original referral that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago received earlier this year, prosecutors there are not pursuing that line of inquiry at this time.
Counsel for Carroll declined to comment.
Carroll accused Mr. Trump of sexually abusing her in a New York City department store dressing room in the mid-1990s, and she published an account of the encounter in New York Magazine in 2019. Mr. Trump subsequently denied assaulting her and said Carroll wasn’t his “type.” In 2019, Carroll sued Mr. Trump for defamation, but the case stalled in court.
She then filed a second defamation lawsuit in 2022, adding a claim of rape under New York’s Adult Survivors Act.
Carroll sued Mr. Trump in two civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual abuse and defamation. In 2023, a jury found Mr. Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation for comments he made in 2022. Carroll was awarded $5 million in damages.
A second jury in 2024 found him liable for defamation in connection with comments he had made about Carroll in 2019, awarding her $83.3 million in damages. Both judgments were upheld on appeal.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who represented Mr. Trump on some of the litigation while it was on appeal, is recused from the case in Chicago related to E. Jean Carroll and the funding for her litigation, one source added.
Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn Jason Alden / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Hoffman’s financial backing for Carroll’s lawsuit was first revealed in legal papers filed by Mr. Trump’s attorneys in April 2023, just ahead of the trial in the first defamation lawsuit, according to the New York Times.
When Mr. Trump’s attorneys brought the issue up on appeal, the appeals court found that Carroll had “plausibly represented” in her deposition “that she had forgotten about the limited outside funding counsel obtained.”
“Rather, it showed that Ms. Carroll simply was not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second District wrote in its 2024 ruling.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers at the time had argued that her misstatements over outside funding raised questions about her credibility, but the court found that litigation funding was not relevant to the case at hand.
Hoffman is listed as the president and chairman of the board of directors for American Future Republic on tax records. In its 2020 990 filing, it disclosed that it provided $7 million to Kaplan Hecker & Fink, the law firm that represented Carroll.
The nonprofit is based in Chicago.
In a May 2023 interview with the Washington Post, Hoffman explained why he chose to help fund Carroll’s legal action, saying that “we didn’t encourage the lawsuit to happen — we only got on board after she’d already filed.”
“My team looked at it, thought that her voice should be heard because she was challenging someone who was so much more wealthy and powerful, it shouldn’t be squashed,” Hoffman said.
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