Seven West Media’s chair, Kerry Stokes, has been ordered to pay $13.5m in legal costs to companies who were unsuccessfully sued for defamation by disgraced former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith.
On Tuesday, a federal court registrar ordered that Australian Capital Equity Pty Ltd (ACE), Stokes’ private company, pay costs fixed at almost $13.3m, and a further $225,000 in relation to the costs assessment, bringing the total bill to $13.5m.
