Hi gh Court Unapprov ed Judgment : No pe rmission is gran ted to copy or use in court

Doub le-click t o enter the short t itle Draft 21 Marc h 2018 10:35 Page 3

Al ekse j Gu bare v, and tw o compani es owned by or assoc i ated wi th hi m , XBT Hol d ings SA and Webzi ll a Inc. Th e US D efen dants are the US publ i shing company Bu zz F e e d Inc and its editor Mr B en Smi th. In the Flori da proce edin gs the US Plai ntiffs compla in of all eged ly defamatory stat ements in doc um ents publi shed by the US Defendants on 10 Janu ary 2017

“(th e doss i er)”. Th e dossi er con sists of a nu m ber of m emorand a

produ ced by Mr Steel e an d/or hi s c

ompan y, O rbis Bu sin ess Intel lige nce Ltd (“Orbis”) .

6.

Mr Steele and Orbis are d

efendants in defamation pro ce eding s in the Quee n’s Benc h

Div isio n bro ug ht by the US Plain t iffs, as claim ant s (sa ve th at Webzill a Inc is not a clai m a nt, and the seco nd an d thi rd clai m a nts are Webzi l l a BV and Webzil l a Li m it e d ) , issued on 3

rd

February 2017

un der Clai m No. HQ17D00413 (“ th e QB proceedi ngs ”).

Th e QB proceeding s hav e reached the stage of servi ce of the cl aim form and particular s of claim , and ser vi ce of the defence and a rep ly . The QB pro cee din gs are bro ug ht in respe ct of the sam e publ i cat i o n of t he dos sier by th e US Defen dants. 7.

Mr Steele was a Crown Servant be tween 1987 - 2009 , ri sin g to th e pos i ti on of Coun se llo r in the For eig n and Co m mon wea lth Offi ce. Duri ng that tim e he ac qui red exper tise in the aff airs of Ru ssia/Commo nw ea lth of Independent Sta tes . He i s boun d by contrac tu a l and Of fi cial Secr ets Act obl i gations. 8.

Af ter he l eft the FC O, Mr Steele foun ded Orb i s i n partnershi p wi th Mr C hri stop he r Bu rrows, anoth er re ti red Seni or F CO Crown Servant. Orbis i s a corpo rate i ntel li ge nc e consultancy, whi ch spe ciali ses in pro vi ding str ate gi c i nsi ght and advice, in tellig e nc e and i nv est igati ve servi ces to a rang e of cli ents. Mr Stee l e is a Di rector of Orb i s. 9.

Between Jun e a nd earl y N ovem ber 2016 , Orb i s was en gag ed by Fusi on GPS

(“Fusi on”), a consul tancy base d i n Washi ng to n DC, provi ding resea rch, strate gic

i ntellig e nce and due dil igence servi ces to cli ents. Mr Steele an d Orb i s h ad develope d a prior w ork in g relationsh ip wi th Fusi on o ver a nu mber o f years. Fusion engaged O rbis to prepa re a series of conf i dentia l m emoran da base d on i ntellig e nce concerni ng all e ge d Russian eff orts to in flu e nce the Uni ted Sta tes Pre sidential election, a nd pos sibl e link s betw een Ru ssi a and th e then Presi den ti a l can di date, an d l ater Presi den t, Don al d Tr u mp. Th e parties desc ri be these m emoranda as

the “pre

-

election memoranda”, being those

prepared bef ore th

e 2016 US Presidenti a l electi on, and “th e December mem orand u m” ,

a fu rther m emoran d um dated 13

t h

December 2016 prepa red by Mr Steele of hi s own i ni tiat i ve, after the US Presidenti a l election . Th e pre- electi on mem oranda and the December mem orandum, six teen docum ents i n total, consti tute the dossier, as ref erre d to in the Florida pro ce eding s. The dos sier was suppli ed to Fusion on terms th at i t was subjec t to an oblig at ion not to disclose it or any of it to thi rd par ties wi thout the agreemen t of Orb i s and/or Mr Steele. 10.

Mr Steel e, co ncl uding that th e in telligence reporte d on i n th e December M emoran d um was of consider able im por tance to the nati onal sec uri ty of the US and the UK, and theref ore needed to be anal ysed fu rther, i nv est igated and veri fi ed, provi ded a copy of the sam e to a senior UK governm e nt nation a l sec uri ty offi c ial ac tin g in his off ic ia l ca pac ity ; and a cop y to Fusion by enciphered email , wi th an in struct ion to Fusion to prov i de a h ard copy t o Sen ator Joh n McCai n of t h e Uni ted States, v i a Mr Dav i d Kram er, a f ormer US State Department civ i l servant and an associate of Senator McC ain . 11.

On 10

th

January 201 7 the US Defendants publi s hed an onli ne