Melania Trump Wins Libel Suits Against Daily Mail for ‘Escort’ Allegations
In 2016, Melania Trump filed lawsuits against the U.K.’s Daily Mail and and its digital operation Mail Online in the United States after the newspaper published a report, cited from a Slovenian magazine, that a modeling agency that represented the first lady “also operated as an escort agency for wealthy clients.”
The story was published in late August 2016 during Donald Trump’s election campaign, but the newspaper later retracted those claims and issued an apology.
The publication also apologized for making claims that Melania may have met Donald Trump years earlier and that their first meeting was staged.
“We accept that these allegations about Mrs. Trump are not true and we retract and withdraw them,” a lawyer for the British newspaper told a judge, Andrew Nicol, at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
“We apologize to Mrs. Trump for any distress that our publication caused her. To settle Mrs. Trump’s two lawsuits against us, we have agreed to pay her damages and costs.”
Trump had sought compensatory and punitive damages of at least $150 million, according to the filing. While the terms of the settlement were not immediately disclosed, Melania Trump is reportedly getting $2.9 million in damages and legal fees from the Daily Mail.
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