Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Donald Trump has been ordered by a judge in England to pay more than £620,000 in legal costs after unsuccessfully suing a company over denied allegations he took part in ‘perverted’ sex acts. The US president brought a data protection claim against Orbis Business Intelligence, a consultancy founded by a former MI6 officer, Christopher Steele, in 2022. Steele authored the report known as the Steele dossier …. Mrs Justice Steyn threw out the claim in February last year without ruling on the truth of the allegations, and ordered Trump to pay Orbis’s costs ‘of the entire claim’ including an initial payment of £290,000, which a hearing in January was told Trump had ‘decided not to pay.’ That led to him being prevented from taking part in a three-day hearing to decide the size of the total legal bill, after which Judge Rowley on Thursday ordered the US president to pay £626,058.98.” (04/03/25)