* Book on Putin is defamatory - judge
* Abramovich says "false" claims must be corrected
* Book claims Abramovich tried to court Trump
* HarperCollins considering the judgement (Adds details on Rosneft and Trump)
By Guy Faulconbridge
LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Claims in a book about President Vladimir Putin that billionaire Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea Football Club on the orders of the Kremlin to spread Russian influence in Britain are defamatory, a British judge ruled on Wednesday.
In the 2020 book, British journalist Catherine Belton chronicles Putin's rise to power and how many of his associates from the former Soviet spy services rose to positions of wealth and influence after he won the top Kremlin job in 1999.
A lawyer for Abramovich had argued in court that passages in the book "Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then Took on the West", published by HarperCollins, were clearly defamatory. Abramovich is suing both HarperCollins and Belton.
"The impression that the reader has is that the Kremlin used the purchase of Chelsea Football Club to gain acceptance and influence for Russia in the UK," Judge Amanda Tipples said in a judgement.
"The underhand way in which this was achieved was to use the claimant, someone who was seen as the acceptable face of Russian business, as the front for it. That was my impression when I read the book," the judge said. "The meanings I have identified are all defamatory of the claimant at common law."
The judge was...
A Coral Springs woman was indicted in federal court for her alleged role in a $58.3 million Medicare fraud scheme built around medically unnecessary orthotic braces, federal prosecutors announced ...