President Donald Trump’s ownership of a Scottish golf resort has come into question as part of a case the president lost in British court.
The company founded by former British spy Christopher Steele is pursuing the U.S. president for more than $1 million in unpaid legal fees after London’s High Court threw out Trump’s data protection suit against Business Intelligence two years ago, but lawyers for Trump Turnberry claim he doesn’t actually own the golf report, reported the BBC.
Because Trump has not paid, Orbis is now pursuing his financial interest in Trump Turnberry through Ayr Sheriff Court in Scotland, where the resort is located, according to the report. Court documents list Trump as a “debtor” and SLC Turnberry Limited, the company that operates the course, as an “arrestee.”
“So has Trump been lying about owning Turnberry Golf Resort?” posted former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci on X. “Turnberry’s lawyers are arguing he doesn’t. Trump is now being pursued as a ‘debtor’ for the $1 million legal costs he owes Steele’s company Orbis after losing a case against them in the English courts. How humiliating.”
At a procedural hearing, Orbis’s advocate, Duncan Hamilton KC, told the court that “over the last 18 months since the last judgement, he has refused or failed” to pay, and that pursuing Trump across jurisdictions had cost his client “a great deal of time and money.”
Hamilton noted the contradiction now on display: “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.”
Turnberry’s own position in court, Hamilton argued, puts Trump “in a degree of legal and reputational jeopardy” by implying his earlier sworn statements were false.
Turnberry’s advocate, David Massaro, pushed back on that characterization, telling the court the company was not claiming Trump’s prior statements were false.
Instead, Massaro said, Trump’s stake “ultimately rests in a trust in the U.S.,” with Trump as beneficiary rather than direct owner — a structure he argued does not amount to a “sufficient link” between Trump personally and the company.
Sheriff Millar ordered a further hearing for November and directed that Trump be notified of the updated amount Orbis is seeking.
The Trump family acquired Turnberry in June 2014.
Trump served as a director of SLC Turnberry until resigning the day before his 2017 inauguration, and his sons Don Jr. and Eric remain directors. Companies House records show Trump holds significant control through Golf Recreation Scotland, which in turn controls SLC Turnberry.
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