Man who leaked Trump’s taxes gets 5 years in prison
The exterior of the Internal Revenue Service building is seen in Washington, on March 22, 2013. Charles Edward Littlejohn, a former contractor for the IRS who pleaded guilty to leaking tax information to news outlets about former President Donald Trump and thousands of the country’s wealthiest people, was sentenced to 5 years in prison Monday, Jan. 29, 2024.
(The Center Square) – A former IRS contractor who leaked former President Donald Trump’s tax returns along with tax information for some of the nation’s wealthiest people was sentenced Monday to five years in prison.
Charles Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty in October to disclosing tax return information without authorization.
Littlejohn, while working at the IRS as a contractor, stole tax return information associated with Trump and others. Littlejohn accessed tax returns associated with Trump on an IRS database “after using broad search parameters designed to conceal the true purpose of his queries,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He then evaded IRS protocols to detect and prevent large downloads or uploads from its systems.
“Charles Littlejohn abused his position as a consultant at the Internal Revenue Service by disclosing thousands of Americans’ federal tax returns and other private financial information to news organizations. He violated his responsibility to safeguard the sensitive information that was entrusted to his care, and now he is a convicted felon,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s sentence sends a strong message that those who violate laws intended to protect sensitive tax information will face significant punishment.”
Prosecutors said Littlejohn then saved the tax returns to multiple personal storage devices, including an iPod, before contacting a news outlet. Between around August 2019 and October 2019, Littlejohn provided the news outlet with the tax return information associated with Trump. Littlejohn then stole additional tax return information related to Trump and provided it to the same news organization, which is not named in the indictment.
In September 2020, The New York Times published a series of articles about Trump’s returns.
The Times has previously said Littlejohn was a whistleblower.
A spokesperson for The New York Times said: “We remain concerned when whistleblowers who provide information in the public interest are prosecuted.”
Next up, jail people fron the NYT’s.
