Former MI6 spy takes Trump to Scottish court for £800,000 legal payout

A company founded by a former spy is pursuing Donald Trump at a small Scottish court for more than £800,000 in unpaid legal costs.

The US president was named in a hearing at Ayr Sheriff Court as Orbis Business Intelligence seeks funds from the Trump Turnberry golf resort.

The case concerns legal costs owed by Trump from a 2024 English data protection case against Orbis's director Christopher Steele - a former MI6 agent.

But SLC Turnberry Limited - which owns the course - is disputing Trump's role as the "ultimate owner", arguing that his stake in the course is held by a trust.

Steele was the author of a salacious "dossier" linking Trump to Russia during his 2016 election campaign.

London's High Court of Justice ruled Trump's action out of time and a judge ordered him to pay Orbis £680,000 in legal costs.

Orbis is targeting the president's financial interests at Turnberry in order to claim the funds.

The case called at Ayr Sheriff Court because the resort falls within its jurisdiction, while Steele and Orbis have no connections there.

Sheriff officers served papers at the Trump Turnberry resort last September.

Court documents named Trump as a "debtor" and reveal that, due to interest, the amount sought by two applications brought by Orbis totals £789,812.

In an online procedural hearing Orbis's advocate Duncan Hamilton KC stated that, despite an English court ordering the president to pay money to Orbis, "over the last 18 months since the last judgement, he has refused or failed to do so".

Due to interest accruing, he said, the costs now claimed by his client were now "north of £800,000" and that the applicant had spent "a great deal of time and money chasing president Trump in various jurisdictions."

Hamilton continued: "President Trump has stated emphatically that he owns Turnberry.

"He has committed that to federal filings of assets... He has made that clear in a witness statement to the High Court."

Stating that Turnberry said the president was not the owner, the KC said Trump was "being put in a degree of legal and reputational jeopardy by the position adopted by Turnberry" as it implies his previous assertions were false.

Turnberry's advocate David Massaro told the court that the company was not claiming that president's statements were false.

Massaro said Trump's stake at the course "ultimately rests in a trust in the US, and as they have averred, the president is the beneficiary".

He stated that it was his client's position that shares are held by trustees and that this is not a "sufficient link" to the company.

Sheriff Millar ordered a further hearing to take place in November and that the president be informed of the updated amount claimed by Orbis.

Steele is a director of Orbis and a former head of MI6's Russia desk.

In 2016, he was hired by a law firm linked to the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign to gather information on then-Republican nominee Trump's alleged links to Russia.

The so-called Steele dossier included a series of uncorroborated intelligence claims, including that the US president had been cultivated by Russia, that he had taken part in sex parties and had been "compromised" by the Russian security services.

The dossier was later published without permission by the website Buzzfeed in 2017.

Trump denies all the claims and launched legal action against Orbis through English courts.

In February 2024 the case brought by Trump against Orbis was thrown out.

Last April, a court ordered the president to pay Orbis more than £600,000 in legal costs.

Ayr Sheriff Court documents reveal that, due to interest, the amount sought by two applications brought by Orbis now totals £789,812.91.

The Trump family acquired the Turnberry resort in Ayrshire in June 2014.

Donald Trump was a director at the company SLC Turnberry Ltd until he resigned the position in January 2017 - a day before he was inaugurated as US president.

His sons, Don Jr and Eric, remain directors at the company.

Information held by Companies House states that Donald Trump Snr has significant control of a company called Golf Recreation Scotland, which in turn has significant control at SLC Turnberry.

A person with significant control is usually someone who has more than 25% shares or voting rights in a company, can appoint or remove a majority of directors, or can influence or control the company.

In September last year, the Daily Mail reported that sheriff officers had served legal papers at the Trump Turnberry resort.

At the time, a spokesperson for Orbis told the newspaper it was "concerned that Donald Trump continues to be in breach of the English High Court and are alarmed by the outrageous costs of this vexatious case in wasted time and money".

In court documents, Donald Trump is named as a "debtor" while it lists SLC Turnberry Limited - the company that runs the resort - is named as an "arrestee".