Trump court cases: A list of all current and pending legal cases on the ex-president's docket

• Trump and his businesses are tangled in an array of state and federal investigations and lawsuits.
• In 2024 so far, he's suffered more than half a billion dollars in court penalties.
• In March, he will have his first criminal trial over the Stormy Daniels scandal.

The lawsuits and prosecutions involving Donald Trump are piling up. 

The ex-president — who is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination — is indicted in four separate prosecutions, the first former Oval Office occupant to ever be charged. He faces 91 criminal counts overall.

In Atlanta, he and 18 co-defendants were charged in a sprawling RICO case for trying to overturn the election results in Georgia. The Justice Department brought a separate case against him in Washington, DC, for his election challenges. In Florida, the Justice Department brought 37 counts against him for his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House.

And in New York, he stands charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. It will be the first of his criminal cases to go to trial, with jury selection starting on March 25.

2024 has already gone very badly for Trump. So far, a judge issued a $355 million judgment — growing with about $112,000 per day in interest — after finding him, his company, and family members liable for lying about his property valuations. In January, a jury found Trump liable for more than $83 million for defaming E. Jean Carroll. Last year, a different jury found him liable for sexually abusing her in a separate civil trial.

And then there are the bills for his lawyers. As he runs for president, Trump is using two of his PACs to pay the lawyers representing him, co-defendants, and witnesses in the cases. A Business Insider analysis found that he spent over $52 million of PAC donor money on legal fees. The vast majority of those funds were on lawyers representing him in cases that had nothing to do with his presidential run.

Keep up to date on the latest of Trump's legal travails with Business Insider's guide to the ever-evolving Trump docket.

Indictments against Trump

The Georgia RICO case

The parties: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, Trump, and his Republican associates 

The issues: In August, Willis brought a sprawling RICO case against Trump and 18 co-defendants, accusing them of forming an enterprise to illegally try to keep him in power despite losing the 2020 election.

The indictment brings charges over campaigns from Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and other top Trump allies to pressure state officials to overturn the election results. It also brings charges against state Republican officials who acted as false electors and submitted fake documents to Congress.

What's next: The case is the most complicated one pending against Trump and will likely be the last to go to trial.

With 19 defendants overall — many of them lawyers — there are numerous legal issues to sort out. (Three of those lawyers, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, and Kenneth Chesebro, have pleaded guilty, making things a little easier.) In recent weeks, hearings and filings over whether Willis had an improper relationship with a prosecutor she hired have created more setbacks.

But with a potential 20-year sentence on RICO charges and no prospect of a preemptive pardon, the case is Trump's biggest legal threat.

The Justice Department's investigation into 2020 election interference

The parties: Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith brought an indictment against Trump in Washington, DC federal court. The case is being overseen by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, who has overseen numerous criminal trials of January 6 rioters.

The issues: The indictment alleges Trump and a group of yet-unindicted co-conspirators conspired to stop Congress from doing its duty to certify now-President Joe Biden's electoral victory in the 2020 election and rob Americans of their lawful votes.

Like Willis's indictment, the case includes the false elector scheme. In addition to Georgia, the indictment includes activity in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and other states where Trump lost and tried to overturn the results.

What's next: The Supreme Court is weighing whether Trump is immune from prosecution in the case, a legal battle that has effectively frozen proceedings. Depending on how quickly the high court wraps up its work, we could still see a trial as soon as late summer.

The Justice Department's investigation into classified documents

The parties: Smith brought an indictment against Trump and his aide Waltine Nauta in a Florida federal court in June. He later slapped Trump with a superseding indictment that added Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira as a co-defendant. They've all pleaded not guilty in the case.

The issues: Early in 2022, Trump turned over 15 boxes of documents — including some marked as classified and "top secret" — to the National Archives. But federal investigators scrutinizing the former president's handling of records reportedly grew suspicious that Trump or people close to him still retained some key records. The FBI seized about a dozen boxes of additional documents during a raid of Mar-a-Lago last summer.

The Mar-a-Lago case and a separate January 6 investigation are both being overseen by special prosecutor Jack Smith. Smith's team has been collecting evidence that would help support a case that Trump knowingly retained the records sought by the government, and obstructed efforts to return them.

According to the indictment — which brings 37 criminal counts against Trump — Trump violated the Espionage Act 31 times by illegally holding on to sensitive national-security documents, conspiring to obstruct justice, lying to law enforcement, and violating three different statutes related to withholding and concealing government records.

Nauta and De Oliviera, often at Trump's direction, helped hide documents, the indictment says. Nauta also lied to law enforcement about his actions, according to prosecutors.

What's next: US District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who previously made rulings sympathetic to him, is presiding over the case. She set a trial for May, but because the case involves complicated legal issues related to classified documents and presidential powers, it may be delayed until after the 2024 election.

The Manhattan DA's indictment over the hush-money settlement to Stormy Daniels

The parties: District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg and Donald Trump.

The issues: Bragg's office investigated whether Trump violated campaign finance laws in connection to hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. A grand jury voted to bring criminal charges against Trump in the case.

Michael Cohen, Trump's former fixer and personal lawyer, is a key witness. He has testified under oath that he made the payments to Daniels at Trump's direction, and pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance violations in connection with the payments in 2018. 

What's next: The judge scheduled a trial to begin on March 25, brushing back numerous attempts to delay it. It will be the first of the former president's four criminal cases to go to trial.

The Trump Organization Payroll Case 

The Parties: The Trump Organization was found guilty of 17 tax fraud counts on December 6, 2022 in a speedy, slam-dunk conviction in New York state court.

The Issues: A four-woman, eight-man, mostly working-class jury held Trump's real estate and golf resort business criminally liable for a 2005-2018 tax-dodge scheme admittedly run by the company's two top financial executives.

The two, former CFO Allen Weisselberg and top payroll executive Jeffrey McConney, helped themselves and a half-dozen other company execs cheat on their income taxes by paying them in part with pricey perks and benefits — including free use of luxury cars and apartments — that were never reported to tax authorities.

What's next: Potential repercussions include a heightened hesitancy among banks to lend to a company with felony status and an energized Trump probe in the Manhattan district attorney's office. Government corruption watchdogs also have renewed reason to urge the federal government to cease doing business with the former president.

Civil lawsuits against Trump

The NY AG's civil case against the Trump family and Trump Organization

The parties: New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization.

The issues: James said she uncovered a decadelong pattern of financial wrongdoing at Trump's multibillion-dollar real-estate and golf resort empire.

She alleged Trump, his two eldest sons Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump, and several executives had inflated the values of the Trump Organization's properties by billions of dollars in financial filings used to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in bank loans. She also alleged he low-balled his properties' worth for tax breaks. Trump has derided the AG's efforts as a politically motivated witch hunt.

What's next: After a three-month trial that featured testimony from Donald Trump himself, as well as his three eldest children and a parade of Trump Organization executives and accountants, and a lot of court filings, the trial court judge issued a final order in February.

The decision includes $355 million in penalties — which has already grown past $460 million due to daily interest — and an array of other sanctions that hamper future business deals.

Trump is appealing the verdict, but the sum he owes will continue to grow until he pays up.

The disqualification lawsuits

The Parties: Voters and advocacy groups in several states have filed lawsuits seeking to keep Donald Trump off the ballot in 2024. A case in Colorado brought by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has been litigated most extensively so far.

The Issues: Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, passed shortly after the Civil War, forbids "an officer of the United States" from being "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the country.

Advocacy groups argue Trump incited the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol and should be ineligible from holding office again. Trump's lawyers say he was engaged in free speech and has no relationship with the far-right rioters who stormed Congress to support him.

In a 102-page opinion issued in November, a Colorado state judge found that CREW sufficiently "established that Trump engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 through incitement and that the First Amendment does not protect Trump's speech." But, the judge ruled, Trump wasn't "an officer of the United States" in the way the 14th Amendment is meant to be understood, and so Trump can remain on the ballot.

What's next: Appeals swiftly reached the Supreme Court, which heard the case in February. At oral arguments, even left-leaning justices appeared skeptical of arguments in favor of kicking Trump off the ballot, pointing to a likely Trump victory.

Lawsuits alleging 'incitement' on January 6

The Parties: House Democrats and two Capitol police officers accused Trump of inciting the violent mob on January 6.

The Issues: Trump's lawyers have argued that his time as president grants him immunity that shields him from civil liability in connection with his January 6 address at the Ellipse, where he urged supporters to "fight like hell."

A federal judge rejected Trump's bid to dismiss the civil lawsuits, ruling that his rhetoric on January 6 was "akin to telling an excited mob that corn-dealers starve the poor in front of the corn-dealer's home."

US District Judge Amit Mehta said Trump later displayed a tacit agreement with the mob minutes after rioters breached the Capitol when he sent a tweet admonishing then-Vice President Mike Pence for lacking the "courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country."

What's Next: After a long delay, a federal appeals court backed Mehta's decision. In February, Trump opted not to appeal the ruling to the US Supreme Court, allowing the cases to move forward.

E. Jean Carroll's rape and defamation cases against Trump

The Parties: Advice columnist E. Jean Carroll sued Trump for defamation, battery, and emotional distress in federal court in Manhattan.

The Issues: Carroll filed two lawsuits against Trump.

Both lawsuits allege Trump defamed her after she publicly accused him of raping her in a Bergdorf-Goodman dressing room in Manhattan in the mid-90s. Trump responded to Carroll's rape claim by saying it was untrue and that she was "not my type." Trump also denied ever meeting Carroll, despite a photo to the contrary.

The first lawsuit was filed in 2019, while Trump was in office, and had been tangled up over legal questions of whether Trump disparaged Carroll as part of his presidential duties, which would make him immune to the lawsuit.

After Trump made more disparaging remarks about Carroll last fall, she filed a second defamation lawsuit against him. That lawsuit also included a rape allegation following the passage of a New York law that gave sexual assault accusers a new window to file civil cases regardless of when the alleged incident occurred.

The second lawsuit went to trial in April of 2023. A jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation and awarded Carroll $5 million.

The first lawsuit went to trial in January of 2024. Because Trump was already found liable for defamation, the second trial focused only on defamation damages. A jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages for that case.

What's next: Trump has already appealed the results of the first trial and indicated he would appeal the results of the second one. He put the $5 million from the first case in a court-controlled escrow account while the appeals play out, and would need to do the same for the $83.3 million verdict in the second case to appeal it.

The 'multi-level marketing' pyramid scheme case

The Parties: Lead plaintiff Catherine McKoy and three others sued Trump, his business, and his three eldest children, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump, in 2018 in federal court in Manhattan.

The Issues: Donald Trump is accused of promoting a scam multi-level marketing scheme on "The Celebrity Apprentice." The lawsuit alleges Trump pocketed $8.8 million from the scheme — but that they lost thousands of dollars. Trump's side has complained that the lawsuit is a politically motivated attack. 

What's Next: A federal judge dismissed the case for jurisdictional reasons in January, just before it was set to go to trial. One of the plaintiffs indicated in court filings that he would appeal the decision. A lawyer for other plaintiffs told Business Insider they would "continue the fight," possibly by appealing or by bringing the claims in other jurisdictions.

Michael Cohen's 'imprisonment' case

The Parties: Michael Cohen sued Donald Trump, former Attorney General Bill Barr, and more than a dozen federal prison officials and employees, in federal court in Manhattan in 2021.

The Issues: The president's former personal attorney is seeking $20 million in damages relating to the time he spent in prison for financial crimes and lying to Congress about Trump's dealings in Congress. 

Cohen claimed he had been moved to home confinement for three months in the spring of 2020 due to the pandemic but was then vindictively thrown into solitary confinement when he refused to stop speaking to the press and writing a tell-all book about his former boss. A judge ordered him released after 16 days.

What's Next: A district court dismissed the case, a decision upheld by a court of appeals. Cohen said he'll bring the case to the US Supreme Court.

The Electric Avenue copyright case

The Parties: Eddy Grant, the composer/performer behind the 80s disco-reggae mega-hit "Electric Avenue," sued Donald Trump and his campaign in federal court in Manhattan in 2020.

The Issues: Grant is seeking $300,000 for copyright infringement. He claims Trump made unauthorized use of the 1983 dance floor staple during the 2020 campaign. About 40 seconds of the song played in the background of a Biden-bashing animation that Trump posted to his Twitter account. The animation was viewed 13 million times before being taken down a month later. 

Trump has countered that the animation was political satire and so is exempt from copyright infringement claims. He's also said that the campaign merely reposted the animation and that he has no idea where it came from.

Trump was deposed last year, but it's unclear where or when exactly. Lawyers for Trump and Grant have agreed to a strict gag order in the case and have repeatedly declined to comment. 

What's Next: The case is slowly winding its way toward trial; an April 24 deadline has been set for the sides to exchange evidence.

Lawsuits brought by Trump 

Donald Trump v. Mary Trump and The New York Times

The Parties: The former president countersued his niece Mary Trump — and The New York Times — in 2021 in New York state court.

The Issues: Mary Trump, the Times, and three of its reporters "maliciously conspired" against him, Trump alleged, by collaborating with the Times on its expose of and breaching the confidentiality of the family's 2001 settlement of the estate of Mary Trump's grandfather, Fred Trump Sr.

What's Next: A judge tossed the claims against the New York Times and its reporters but allowed the claims against his niece to proceed.

Donald Trump v. Hillary Clinton

The Parties: Trump sued Hillary Clinton, her campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and prominent Democrats, including former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and former Clinton campaign chair John Podesta in a federal court in southern Florida in March 2022.

The Issues: Trump alleged that Clinton and her campaign staff conspired to harm his 2016 run for president by promoting a "contrived Trump-Russia link." 

A judge tossed the massive lawsuit in September, calling it "a two-hundred-page political manifesto" in which Trump detailed "his grievances against those that have opposed him." He ordered Trump and his attorney to pay nearly $1 million in sanctions in January.

What's Next: Trump promised to appeal the dismissal, but it's unlikely he'll be successful given the sanctions he's faced in this case.

Camila DeChalus and C. Ryan Barber contributed to a previous version of this story.