Former US President Donald Trump has been ordered to pay around $400,000 in legal fees to The New York Times and three investigative reporters on Friday, over a failed lawsuit regarding a 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning story.
The New York Supreme Court Judge Robert Reed, a Democrat, ordered Trump to repay the New York Times for fees incurred by his failed legal action.
The New York Times and three investigative reporters Susanne Craig, David Barstow and Russell Buettner won a Pulitzer Prize for a 2018 story about Donald Trump's family's wealth and tax practices, the investigation alleging that the former president was involved in "dubious tax schemes".
Earlier in 2021, Donald Trump had filed a 100 million dollar lawsuit accusing the newspaper and the journalists who reported on the story by working with Trump’s estranged niece, Mary Trump, of "an insidious plot" to obtain his tax records, as part of a "personal vendetta" against him.
The lawsuit claimed that they relentlessly pursued Mary Trump and convinced her to turn over documents, reports the BBC.
However, the newspaper and the reporters were dismissed from the lawsuit in May. While dismissing the case, Judge Reed said that the legal system has "long recognised that reporters are entitled to engage in legal and ordinary newsgathering activities".
Trump accused his niece of giving tax records to the reporters and breaching the settlement agreement.
According to Trump, the reporters were aware prior settlement agreement with Mary Trump that barred her from disclosing the documents. Mary Trump had received these documents in a dispute over family patriarch Fred Trump's estate.
Judge, Robert Reed said that given the “complexity of the issues" in the case and other factors, it was reasonable that Donald Trump be forced to pay lawyers for the Times and the reporters a total of $392,638 in legal fees.