Judge sentences Trump Organization to pay $1.6 million penalty for tax fraud

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York judge on Friday sentenced Donald Trump's namesake real estate company to pay a $1.6 million criminal penalty, after it was convicted of scheming to defraud tax authorities for 15 years.

Justice Juan Merchan of the Manhattan criminal court imposed the sentence, after jurors found two Trump Organization affiliates guilty of 17 criminal charges last month.

The penalty was the maximum the judge could have imposed.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)