Christopher Steele’s Firm Ordered in U.K. to Pay Damages to Russian Bankers

A firm co-owned by former British spy Christopher Steele has been ordered to pay compensation to two Russian oligarchs in a data protection case about the content of a dossier on alleged links between Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.

But a High Court judge in London ruled on Wednesday that no breach of data protection legislation had occurred in four out of five of the points of complaint lodged by Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven against Orbis Business Intelligence.

German Khan, a third oligarch who was also part of the long-running legal battle, was not awarded any damages.

Mr Justice Warby ruled that Orbis was not responsible for the "wider publication" of the Russia report.

Its release into the public via the online US news organisation BuzzFeed in January 2017 triggered a political and diplomatic storm.

The dossier contained allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. President Trump has always denied any such activity.

The Russian billionaires, from the powerful Russian investment consortium Alfa Group, were named in a memorandum within the dossier.

It included allegations that they had a corrupt relationship with President Putin.

The judge ruled that the allegations were inaccurate or misleading.

However in four out of five of the specific points of contention, he said that Orbis had recorded the information from its source accurately and taken reasonable steps to check it.

On the other point - related to an allegation about illicit payments to President Putin via a middle-man in the 1990s - the judge ruled that Mr Steele's company had "failed to take reasonable steps to verify the allegation".

As a result, he said Orbis must pay £18,000 in compensation to both Mr Fridman and to Mr Aven. The men said that this payment would be given to a charitable foundation.

The judge noted that Mr Steele, who appeared in person to give evidence during a hearing in March, had been unable to reveal the identity of his sources to help support his case.

This is thought to be because of source-protection issues related to reporting on Russia.

"That wish is understandable, but it does mean that his explanation of what he did and did not do, and his justifications for his behaviour, are harder to scrutinise," Mr Justice Warby wrote in the judgement.

The three Russian businessmen launched a number of legal claims against Mr Steele in the United States and the UK in the wake of the publication of the dossier.

Last month an appellate court in Washington upheld the dismissal of a defamation lawsuit in what Orbis described as a "resounding legal victory".

This time around, the oligarchs claimed the high court ruling was a "decisive victory" for them.

The two sides are set to clash again later this month.