Ben Roberts-Smith's chief financial backer, Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes, is facing a $13.5 million legal bill to cover costs incurred by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald in defending his failed defamation case.
In orders made by a Federal Court registrar on Tuesday, the court said the newspapers' costs of the defamation trial payable by the former Special Air Service corporal and Stokes' private company, Australian Capital Equity, would be fixed at $13.3 million.
Stokes and Roberts-Smith are also on the hook for almost $225,000 in costs associated with the assessment process itself, bringing the total bill to $13.5 million.
Stokes bankrolled the defamation trial using private funds, including an estimated $15 million in costs for Roberts-Smith's own legal team. He did not pay for the appeal.