NEW YORK, Jan 13, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Former US president Donald Trump was

ordered to pay nearly $400,000 in legal costs to the New York Times and
multiple journalists Friday after a lawsuit he brought against them was
dismissed.

Trump had filed a complaint against the newspaper in September 2021, accusing
three journalists of engaging in an "insidious plot" to obtain his tax
documents as part of an investigative report that was published in 2018 and
ended up winning a Pulitzer Prize.

A judge in the commercial division of the New York state Supreme Court
dismissed the case in May 2023, ordering Trump -- who is seeking a return to
the White House in this year's election -- to pay the defendants' costs.

The decision issued Friday said the Times' estimation of having spent
$392,638 in attorney's fees appeared "reasonable," and ordered Trump to
reimburse them in full.

The paper's investigation revealed how Trump -- a real estate mogul who has
boasted for decades about building his own business fortune -- had in fact
received the equivalent of $413 million, adjusted for inflation, from his
father over several years, much of which was transferred through a shell
company to avoid taxation.