Former Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto is facing bankruptcy after being ordered to pay $2.3 million towards Liberal colleague Moira Deeming\u2019s legal costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In December, the Federal Court ordered Pesutto to pay $315,000 in damages to Deeming, along with her legal expenses, after finding he had repeatedly defamed her by falsely suggesting she was linked to neo-Nazis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court has spent months determining how much of Deeming\u2019s legal costs Pesutto should cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court\u2019s full reasons for awarding the $2.3 million have not yet been published. Pesutto is required to pay the full amount in a lump sum or risk bankruptcy, which would force him out of Parliament and trigger a by-election in the marginal seat of Hawthorn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also has the option to appeal the decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Being ordered to pay $2.3 million towards Liberal colleague Moira Deeming\u2019s legal costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":218181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,999,35],"tags":[13672,993,16289,8],"class_list":["post-218180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-australia-politics","category-breaking-news","tag-john-pesutto","tag-melbourne","tag-moira-deeming","tag-victoria"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t