New York, New York - 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, instead ordering Trump 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.

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The paper's investigation revealed how the ex-president, 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.

The frontrunner for the Republican Party's nomination in the 2024 presidential elections is also involved in a civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Arguments in the chaotic trial wrapped up dramatically on Wednesday, with Trump ranting on the stand and being interrupted by the presiding judge.