Kathrine Frich
The legal team defending the Scottish golf course has deployed a surprising strategy.
Billionaires love boasting about their massive property empires. But when a hefty bill arrives, they sometimes sing a different tune. A luxury estate suddenly belongs to a complicated trust, leaving creditors empty-handed.
Dodging the bill
President Donald Trump faces a messy legal fight over a massive unpaid invoice. He owes over $1 million to Orbis Business Intelligence, founded by former British spy Christopher Steele.
The debt stems from a bitter court battle that ended badly for the president. Trump sued the company in 2023 over a controversial dossier containing allegations about his behavior in Russia.
London’s High Court tossed the lawsuit in 2024 because Trump missed the legal time limit. The judge then ordered him to cover the legal costs for Orbis.
That original bill was roughly $800,000. Interest has since pushed the total past the million-dollar mark.
A Scottish standoff
Lawyers for Orbis are hunting for assets to seize. They launched an action at Ayr Sheriff Court to extract the cash directly from Trump Turnberry.
The legal team defending the Scottish golf course has deployed a surprising strategy. They claim the president does not actually own the property in a way that allows creditors to touch it.
According to BBC News, holding company SLC Turnberry Limited argues that a trust controls the shares. Their lawyer told the court that Trump is merely a beneficiary, severing the legal link.
Reputational jeopardy
Duncan Hamilton, the lawyer representing Orbis, pointed out a glaring contradiction. He reminded the court that Trump listed the resort on federal asset filings and swore to his ownership in a previous witness statement.
“President Trump has stated emphatically that he owns Turnberry,” Hamilton told the court.
Former White House aide Anthony Scaramucci mocked his old boss on social media platform X. He noted that the golf resort’s lawyers are basically arguing the president lied about his personal wealth.
“Trump is now being pursued as a ‘debtor’ for the $1 million in legal costs he owes Steele’s company Orbis after losing a case against them in the English courts. How humiliating,” Scaramucci wrote.
Family control
Trump stepped down as a director of the Scottish company in early 2017. Even so, his family maintains a tight grip on the seaside business.
Records show his son, Eric Trump, sits as a director for a parent company controlling the Turnberry operation.
The Scottish court will hold another hearing in November to decide whether the golf course must finally pay up.
Sources: Daily Beast, BBC News, The National, X
