The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the 82-year-old former magazine writer who accused Donald J. Trump of sexual assault, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.

The investigation is believed to center on whether Ms. Carroll committed perjury in civil lawsuits against Mr. Trump, according to the person, who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. Ms. Carroll won a $5 million civil judgment against Mr. Trump that he had sexually abused and defamed her, which the president last November asked the Supreme Court to overturn.

Andrew S. Boutros, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, opened the inquiry, according to the person with knowledge of the situation. The existence of the investigation was reported earlier by CNN.

Ms. Carroll’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general — who has approved a growing number of inquiries into the president’s enemies — is said to have recused himself from the probe because of his representation of Mr. Trump in the Carroll case.

In May 2023, a federal jury in New York found Mr. Trump liable for sexually abusing Ms. Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s. The jury also found that Mr. Trump had defamed her by saying on his social media site that her case was a hoax and a lie.

Mr. Trump won a delay this month in another defamation case in which Ms. Carroll was awarded $83 million. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that Mr. Trump did not have to pay the judgment, as he intends to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Benjamin Weiser contributed reporting.