Melania wins in court against Daily Mail publisher over claims she ‘provided services beyond simply modelling’

The Daily Mail will pay an undisclosed amount to Melania Trump after the latter won damages over escort claims. The paper previously published an article saying the US first lady used to offer "services beyond simply modelling" in her former job.

The wife of US President Donald Trump sued the publisher of the Daily Mail in Britain. Her lawyer argued that the report had caused damage to the FLOTUS’ ability to build businesses based on her status as a "successful businesswoman."

Headlined "Racy photos and troubling questions about his wife's past that could derail Trump," the article was published in August 20, 2016. Melania reportedly filed a $US150 million ($AU198 million) lawsuit against Daily Mail in New York after claiming that the article had cost her millions of dollars in potential business.

The Daily Mail, in its home page, issued an apology for the article and has withdrawn the allegations. Publisher Associated Newspapers said that the escort claims are not true, and that they agreed to pay the FLOTUS damages and costs.

Catrin Evans, lawyer for the Daily Mail's publisher, told a hearing at London's High Court that the defendant wanted to apologise to the claimant for any embarrassment that the article may have caused her. She said that the publisher acknowledges the allegations are untrue, and it retracts and withdraws them.

John Kelly, Melania’s attorney, said that the article included a photo of the FLOTUS naked with her front against a wall. It was published in a two-page spread. Kelly added that the article claimed that Melania and her husband may have met three years before they “staged” their actually meeting as a “ruse.” The lawyer maintained that these claims were false.

The lawyer told the court that subscribers of the magazine could not have missed the article the day it was published. Kelly pointed out that it included false and defamatory claims about Melania as it questioned the nature of her job as a professional model.

Melania’s lawyers previously stated that the article had caused her serious financial damage. “The economic damage to the plaintiff’s brand, and licensing, marketing and endorsement opportunities caused by the publication of Mail Online’s defamatory article, is multiple millions of dollars,” a document filed in New York reads. The Guardian understands that the settlement covers legal actions brought by Trump against the Daily Mail in both the UK and US.

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