Historian who questioned Holocaust declared bankrupt

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

Irving 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 $2.78 million -- including an interim payment of $210,000.

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

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.