Former President Donald Trump failed in his attempt to sue the company Orbis Business Intelligence, founded by former British spy Christopher Steele, author of the controversial and discredited “Steele File.”
London judge Karen Steyn, who had dismissed the legal action last month arguing that it was “bound to fail,” ordered that Trump pay 300,000 pounds sterling (about $380,000) in legal fees to Orbis, according to a report from ABC News, which cites court documents released Thursday.
Orbis was founded in 2009 by Steele, who worked in the Russia office for Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6.
Trump's legal team accused Orbis of making "shocking and scandalous" false claims in the "Steele File" that damaged the former president's reputation.
One of the mostly debunked claims in the “Steele File” was that the former US president had been “compromised” by the Russian security service, the FSB.
According to the report, Trump was susceptible to bribery by the Kremlin, making him a danger to US national security.
Likewise, unproven claims were also made in the “Steele File” that the former president had participated in “sex parties” in St. Petersburg.
This report arose from a 2016 investigation of Steele paid for by Democrats. That report generated a political storm just before Trump's inauguration with rumors and uncorroborated accusations about his alleged ties to Russia.
Therefore, Trump sued Orbis, saying that the dossier was false and that the company had violated British data protection laws.
However, the company emerged unscathed by requesting the dismissal of the lawsuit. It argued that the report should never have been published and only saw the light of day because BuzzFeed published it without the permission of Steele or Orbis.
The new judicial setback follows Trump's defeat in the defamation case of the writer E. Jean Carroll and also the order to pay $355 million in the financial fraud case in New York.
