Donald Trump is in trouble in the United Kingdom for not paying the legal costs of the company owned by former MI6 spy Christopher Steele, after losing a lawsuit over Steele’s infamous Russia dossier.
According to a report from Sky News, Trump is in breach of a British High Court ruling in March that ordered him to pay 300,000 pounds (approximately $385,000), after he lost his lawsuit against against Orbis Business Intelligence, which in 2016 put together a dossier alleging that Trump and his close associates were compromised by Russian intelligence. The dossier included salacious details claiming that Trump had participated in sex parties in St. Petersburg, Russia, with the country’s intelligence allegedly possessing video of the now-convicted felon receiving “golden showers” from Russian sex workers.
Trump denied all of the claims made in the dossier, which was compiled by Steele, and claimed in his lawsuit that he “suffered personal and reputational damage and distress,” particularly from the sex-related claims. In the end, he lost the trial and was ordered to reimburse Orbis for its legal fees.
On Friday morning, Steele pointed out that Trump hasn’t complied with the court order for two months, opening him up to legal enforcement if he travels to the U.K.
Trump has racked up several fines as a result of his legal issues since losing the 2020 presidential election. He had to pay a $175 million bond for his civil fraud case, reduced from $454 million after an appeal, while he tries to appeal the ruling. He owes writer E. Jean Carroll $88.3 million for sexually abusing and defaming her, and racked up $10,000 in fines after repeatedly violating a gag order in his hush-money trial.
As a result of his felony conviction in his hush-money trial, in which he still awaits sentencing, Trump is technically barred from traveling to 38 countries that don’t allow felons to cross their borders, including the U.K. Perhaps the British government can make an exception in its travel ban, if only to collect on his debt. Of course, Trump has a long history of not paying what he owes.
