Jerusalem Post

March 4, 2002

(18:30) British Holocaust denier declared bankrupt

By The Associated Press

LONDON - Historian David Irving, who questioned the extent of the 
Holocaust, was declared bankrupt today after failing to pay legal costs to 
an American professor and her publisher.

Irving had sued American academic Deborah Lipstadt and publisher Penguin in 
April, 2000 over her 1994 book, "Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault 
on Truth and Memory." Irving said the book destroyed his livelihood and 
fueled hatred against him.

After Irving lost the case, the High Court ordered him to pay Lipstadt's 
and Penguin's legal costs - estimated at 2 million pounds - including an 
interim payment of 150,000 pounds.

Penguin's lawyers said today it took action after Irving failed to pay.

"Our client has been very patient but Irving was clearly not going to meet 
the interim payment which is a fraction of their total costs," said lawyer 
Mark Bateman.

A bankruptcy order clears the way to seize assets to settle unpaid debts.

High Court judge Charles Gray ruled that Irving had "misrepresented and 
distorted" historical evidence and that he was "anti-Semitic and racist and 
that he associates with right-wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism."

Irving, the author of nearly 30 books, insists he does not deny that Jews 
were killed by the Nazis, but challenges the number and manner of Jewish 
concentration camp deaths.

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