Data protection

Ex-spy Christopher Steele ordered to pay damages over 'inaccurate' dossier claims

British ex-spy Christopher Steele must pay damages to two Alfa Bank partners for publishing "inaccurate or misleading" material in his infamous dossier, including claims the banks funneled "illicit cash" to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a British court ruled Wednesday.

Orbis Business Intelligence was ordered to pay 18,000 English pounds, or nearly $23,000, each to Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman for violating Britain’s Data Protection Act of 1998 and "for the loss of autonomy, distress and reputational damage caused by the breaches of duty," the court said. The decision, authored by Justice Mark Warby of the High Court of England and Wales, was Steele's first major court loss.

"This allegation [about the Putin payments] clearly called for closer attention, a more enquiring approach and more energetic checking," Warby wrote. "Orbis failed to take reasonable steps in this regard, and to that extent, a breach of the Fourth Principle is established."

The "Fourth Principle" refers to a portion of the law penalizing the dissemination of inaccurate information.

The dossier made additional inaccurate claims, including that the pair provided foreign policy advice to Putin, the judge found.