(CN) — A London judge on Thursday tossed a lawsuit from former President Donald Trump accusing Orbis Business Intelligence, a U.K. private investigations firm, of making illegal, “shocking and scandalous claims” in its so-called “Steele dossier.”
“In my view, there are no compelling reasons to allow the claim to proceed to trial,” Judge Karen Steyn wrote in her 41-page ruling dismissing the lawsuit.
Her decision stems from a report compiled by former M16 officer Christopher Steele, who worked for Orbis and was paid by Hillary Clinton and Democrats for opposition research on Trump in 2016.
Steele assembled a 35-page dossier that suggested Trump had taken part in bribery and sex parties in Russia, which the Russian government could potentially use to blackmail him.
In response, Trump brought a Data Protection Act lawsuit against Orbis in 2023 over its findings, claiming them to have affected his reputation and causing him “significant damage and distress.”
But Steyn didn’t find any “compelling reasons” to push Trump’s suit to trial.
“The claimant has no reasonable grounds for bringing a claim for compensation or damages, and no real prospect of successfully obtaining such a remedy,” Steyn wrote Thursday, adding that his complaint “is bound to fail” should it move forward.
Trump fervently denied the dossier’s claims. He previously said in a witness statement that it contained “numerous false, phony or made-up allegations.” He denied engaging in “perverted sexual acts” like “golden showers,” as Steele’s dossier suggested, nor giving the Russian government enough material to blackmail him.
The U.K. High Court’s ruling made no judgment on the legitimacy of the dossier. Rather, Steyn found that Trump brought his claim too late, waiting years after his presidency to take legal action.
“The limitation period applicable to claims under the DPA 1998 is six years,” Steyn wrote. “More than six years from preparation of the memoranda had passed before the claimant indicated any intention to bring a claim pursuant to the DPA.”
Orbis repeatedly claimed the dossier was never supposed to be made public. But in 2017, it was leaked to Buzzfeed News, which published a story and shared photos of Steele’s full report tying Trump to Russia.
“However, there were other aspects to Trump’s engagement with the Russian authorities,” the dossier read. “One which had borne fruit for them was to exploit Trump’s personal obsessions and sexual perversion in order to obtain suitable ‘kompromat’ (compromising material) on him.”
The report said Trump’s “unorthodox behavior in Russia over the years” gave its government enough material to “be able to blackmail him if they so wished.”
Steyn ruled that, since Buzzfeed circulated the document, Orbis itself “is not responsible in law for the publication."
Trump had previously tried filing a similar lawsuit in Florida against Orbis, Hillary Clinton and FBI officials, but it was dismissed in 2022.
Clinton and the Democrats did face consequences for the commissioned dossier, though. In 2022, the U.S. Federal Election Commission found that they had mislabeled Steele’s work as “legal services” and “consulting” in campaign filings. The Democratic National Committee was fined $105,000 as a result, while Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign had to shell out $8,000.
The FEC decided not to penalize Steele for his role.
Thursday’s decision is the latest entry in Trump’s packed legal calendar. Last week, a New York City jury ordered him to pay $83.3 million for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexual assault.
He could be on the hook for more cash in the next few days — New York Judge Arthur Engoron is expected to issue a ruling on Trump’s civil fraud case as early as this week. Depending on Engoron’s decision, Trump and his co-defendants could be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in disgorgement.
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