Donald Trump ordered to pay six-figure fees to companies suing him

Donald Trump has been ordered to pay six-figure legal fees to companies he sued over alleged “perverse” sex acts and bribes to Russian officials.

Last month Judge Steyn dismissed a case against Orbis Business Intelligence, a consultancy founded by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele.

She deemed Trump's claim for compensation “doomed to fail.”

In her new ruling, she ordered Trump to pay Orvis's “full costs.”

The order, seen by the PA news agency on Thursday, also said Trump is not seeking to appeal.

Steele was the former head of Russia for the Secret Intelligence Service and the author of the so-called Steele Dossier.

This includes unsubstantiated intelligence claims, denied by Trump, that the former US president was “compromised” by Russia's security service, the FSB.

The high court was informed last year that a data protection case was being filed over two notes in the dossier which claimed Trump attended a “sex party” in St Petersburg and had a “golden shower” with a prostitute in Moscow.

Judge Steyn said Orvis estimated costs at more than £600,000.

She said Mr Trump should pay £300,000 before a specialist judge determines the total costs.

The dossier, which consists of more than a dozen memos, was prepared by Orbis in 2016, before Trump won the election that year and became US president, and was later leaked to BuzzFeed News and made public in 2017.

At an October 2023 hearing, attorney Hugh Tomlinson, representing Trump, called the memo's allegations – including a claim that Trump, 77, “soiled” a bed previously used by former President Barack Obama and his wife – “grossly inaccurate.”

Judge Stein dismissed the lawsuit, saying the “mere fact” that Orvis had copies of the memos was not enough to cause distress to Trump.

Orbis Last month's ruling was welcomed.“We strongly believe that Trump made this claim in an attempt to retaliate against Orvis and stifle free speech,” they said.

Trump is almost certain to win the Republican nomination and face off against incumbent President Joe Biden, who is seeking a return to the White House.