The billionaire who bankrolled Australia’s highest decorated soldier Ben Roberts-Smith’s failed defamation case will have to pay The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald $13.5m in legal costs.

Federal Court orders released on Tuesday hand mogul Kerry Stokes the $13.5m bill, following years of Mr Roberts-Smith’s attempts to fend off war crime allegations.

Mr Stokes paid for much of Mr Roberts-Smith’s legal fight, and Tuesday’s orders say the soldier and Mr Stokes’ company Australian Capital Equity, are to pay the newspapers’ costs of $13.27m.

They are also on the hook for the $224,000 cost of this final court action.

The VC recipient legal challenges following his loss in the 110-day trial that wrapped in mid-2022 have now been exhausted.

In the protracted civil trial following reports in

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