Court forces Trump to pay legal fees for company he sued over Russian sex party allegations

Donald Trump will have to pay the six-figure legal costs of the company he sued over allegations he took part in “perverted” sex acts and gave bribes to Russian officials.

The former, and possible future, US president brought legal action against Orbis Business Intelligence, a consultancy founded by a former MI6 officer.

Christopher Steele, who previously ran the Secret Intelligence Service’s Russia desk, was the author of the so-called Steele dossier, which included denied allegations that Mr Trump had been “compromised” by the Russian security service, the FSB.

At a hearing in London last year, the High Court was told Mr Trump was bringing a data protection claim over two memos in the dossier which claimed he had taken part in “sex parties” while in St Petersburg and engaged in “golden showers” with prostitutes in Moscow.

In a ruling last month, Mrs Justice Steyn threw out Mr Trump’s case, finding his compensation claim was “bound to fail”.

And in an order obtained by the PA news agency on Thursday, the judge also said the Republican front-runner will pay Orbis’s costs “of the entire claim”.

Mrs Justice Steyn said Orbis has estimated its costs to be more than £600,000.

She ordered that £300,000 should be paid by Mr Trump before the total costs are decided by a specialist judge.

The order, from early February, also said Mr Trump has made no attempt to bring an appeal.

Former US president Donald Trump will have to pay the six-figure legal costs of Orbis Business Intelligence after suing the company over allegations that he took part in ‘perverted’ sex acts and gave bribes to Russian officials (Brian Lawless/PA)

The dossier, made up of more than a dozen memos, was produced by Orbis in 2016 ahead of the US election which