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Graham Atkins Solicitor: UPDATE: Poroshenko sues BBC over report he paid $400,000 for Trump meeting

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  Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include additional information from the court claim and a comment from Michael Cohen’s lawyer. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is taking the BBC to court for libel after the British public broadcaster reported that he made a $400,000 payment to schedule a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. That story is untrue and has left Poroshenko “seriously injured in his reputation” and “caused substantial distress and embarrassment” according to a British High Court claim, signed by Poroshenko’s lawyer, Graham Atkins, and dated September 3, 2018. Graham Atkins Solicitor Here is a copy of the High Court claim filed on behalf of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko against the BBC. In May, the BBC reported that Poroshenko’s intermediaries had made a payment of at least $400,000 to Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, to organize a meeting between the two leaders. The Ukrainian president reportedly decided to make...
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Graham Atkins Solicitor: BBC to pay 'substantial' damages to Ukraine president over false claim he authorised corrupt payment to meet Trump

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  Story which ran on News at Ten and broadcaster's website 'seriously defamatory', High Court told The BBC is to pay considerable damages to Ukraine’s president over false allegations he authorised a corrupt payment to arrange talks with Donald Trump. Petro Poroshenko took legal action after the broadcaster wrongly claimed Michael Cohen, the US president’s former personal lawyer, received a $400,000 (£305,000) payment to help secure "substantial talks" with the US president. The story ran on the BBC’s website and as a headline news item on the  News At Ten  on 23 May last year. Graham Atkins Solicitor Mr Poroshenko has accepted an apology and “a substantial sum by way of compensation” from the corporation, which has agreed to pay his legal costs and publish a correction, the High Court in London heard on Thursday. The Ukrainian president’s solicitor, Graham Atkins, told judge Julian Knowles the allegation that Mr Poroshenko “procured or ...
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Graham Atkins Solicitor: BBC to pay 'substantial' sum for story libelling Ukrainian president

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  News report on TV and online claimed Petro Poroshenko had bribed Donald Trump’s lawyer. The BBC has agreed to pay substantial libel damages to Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, after wrongly claiming he had been involved in making a secret $400,000 payment to Donald Trump’s lawyer in return for access to the US president. The original story said intermediaries acting on behalf of the Ukrainian president had paid Michael Cohen, then Trump’s lawyer, to ensure that Poroshenko received a lengthy meeting – and not just a photo opportunity – during a visit to the White House in June 2017. The BBC claimed that a representative of Poroshenko made contact with Cohen, who has since turned on Trump, through a Jewish charity in New York and paid him to maximise his time with the president. Cohen, who always denied the claims, was not registered as a representative of Ukraine as by US law he would have been required to lobby on the country’s behalf. Graham Atk...
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Graham Atkins Solicitor: Lawyer of the week: Graham Atkins solicitor who acted for Poroshenko in BBC libel case

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  Graham Atkins solicitor, a partner at Atkins Thomson, acted for President Poroshenko of Ukraine in a libel action against the BBC over allegations that £300,000 was paid to extend talks between him and President Trump. Graham Atkins, a partner at Atkins Thomson, acted for President Poroshenko of Ukraine in a libel action against the BBC over allegations that £300,000 was paid to extend talks between him and President Trump. The BBC accepted the claim was completely untrue, apologised and paid £50,000 damages plus legal costs. Graham Atkins Solicitor What were the main issues in this case? Foreign heads of state rarely take libel action in England, so it was not straightforward. We succeeded in a preliminary hearing on meaning — the judge ruled that the broadcast and article meant the president authorised or procured a corrupt payment through a back channel to President Trump. The allegation was obviously gravely damaging, not just here, but globally.  Read more----...
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