London’s High Court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by former President Donald Trump over salacious allegations made in an infamous dossier focused on alleged connections between his campaign and Russia, according to multiple reports.
Judge Karen Steyn sided Thursday with Orbis Business Intelligence, finding that Trump’s data protection claim for damages was made too late to go forward, The Guardian reported.
“There are no compelling reasons to allow the claim to proceed to trial,” Steyn said, according to The Associated Press.
Dubbed the Steele dossier, the document was compiled by Orbis Business Intelligence founder and former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, The Guardian reported. It was obtained by BuzzFeed and published in 2017, days before Trump’s inauguration.
Trump claimed in his lawsuit that the dossier included inaccurate allegations and breached his data protection rights, according to BBC News. It included unverified claims of bribery and allegations that he had engaged in “perverted sexual acts” in Russia, the news network and Reuters reported.
Orbis argued that the case should be tossed because the dossier was never meant to be public, according to the AP. The company said that the claim was brought so that Trump could address his “longstanding grievances” against the company and Steele, Reuters reported.
In October, an attorney for Trump said that the lawsuit was filed over two memos included in the dossier that alleged that Trump had taken part in “sex parties” and consorted with sex workers in Russia, according to the AP. Attorney Hugh Tomlinson said his client “suffered personal and reputational damage and distress,” calling the allegations “shocking and scandalous” and “egregiously inaccurate.”
Steyn did not rule Thursday on the veracity of the claims. She found that Trump had “chosen to allow many years to elapse -– without any attempt to vindicate his reputation in this jurisdiction -– since he was first made aware of the dossier” in January 2017, the AP reported.
“The claim for compensation and/or damages … is bound to fail,” the judge added.
Trump said he did not have time before 2023 to sue in the United Kingdom because he was busy being president, BBC News reported.
The former president is the front-runner vying for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
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