Alfa Bank To Appeal US Court Order In Libel Suit Against Trump Dossier Author - Lawyer

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd August, 2018) The owners of Russia's Alfa Bank will most likely appeal a US judge's decision to throw out a defamation lawsuit against Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer and author of a controversial dossier on President Donald Trump, attorney Alan S. Lewis told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"We strongly disagree with the Courts decision which we will almost certainly appeal," Lewis said. "We ... are confident that the appellate court will reinstate the Plaintiffs claim."

Washington DC Superior Court Judge Anthony C Epstein on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by Alfa's founders Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan, rejecting the plaintiffs' assertion that the dossier defamed them.

The plaintiffs argued that the dossier defamed them by linking the three men, who own stakes in Alfa Bank, to the Russian government's alleged influence operations during the 2016 US presidential election. Moscow denies interfering in the vote.

Lewis said the plaintiffs feel good about the court's determination that Steele's negligent misrepresentation of the Russian businessmen was unsupported by evidence. Alfa Bank owners did not intend to interfere in the 2016 election and did not take steps to do so, the attorney stressed.

The judge said in the ruling that the three men were not able to prove that Steele had full knowledge of the fact the information was erroneous.

Steele, the former MI6 officer, was hired by the US research firm Fusion GPS to investigate Trump's alleged ties to Russia as part of the Democratic Party's opposition research during the 2016 election. The White House has rejected the allegations presented in the dossier.