Donald Trump's company sentenced to pay $1.61 million penalty for tax fraud

a $1.61 million criminal penalty after it was convicted of scheming to defraud tax authorities for 15 years

if the tax fraud saved them more than $107k/year (which seems virtually certain when you consider their holdings include several buildings valued in the $100 million+ range) then this isn't an actual penalty, it's just a cost of doing business.

imagine robbing a bank, stealing $100k, and then getting caught and the only punishment is paying a $1000 fine. that's a minor inconvenience. as you're planning out your next bank robbery, maybe you budget $5k for the getaway driver and $1k for the "aw shucks, you caught me" fee.

Justice Juan Merchan of the Manhattan criminal court imposed the sentence, the maximum possible under state law

so that's cool. they didn't explicitly write "this doesn't apply to rich people" into state law, but it ends up having the same effect. if you're wealthy enough, and cheat on your taxes to a large enough extent, the law is powerless to punish you to a degree that actually matters or deters the behavior.