OAN's Brooke Mallory
2:33 PM – Friday, January 19, 2024
A former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) contractor is accused of, among other things, “stealing and leaking data” from President Donald Trump's tax returns, the Department of Justice (DOJ) informed a sentencing judge Wednesday. It is said that he took it.
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Charles Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, was charged with stealing and publishing information related to President Trump and other wealthy public figures. He pleaded guilty last year to one count of fraudulent disclosure of tax returns and tax return information.
Prosecutors submitted a 15-page document arguing for the maximum statutory sentence of five years, saying Mr Littlejohn had betrayed the trust of society by committing a crime “deserving of serious punishment.”
From 2008 to 2013, Littlejohn worked for Booz Allen, a consulting firm primarily handling IRS contracts for public and private clients. While there, he had access to “vast amounts of unconcealed taxpayer data.”
Prosecutors said that when Trump was elected president in 2017, Littlejohn rejoined Booz Allen “for the purpose of accessing and publishing” the president's tax returns, calling him “a danger to our democracy and a threat to our democracy.” He claims that he considered it a “threat.” There are no reports on why he previously left the company or why he left of his own volition.
Littlejohn “used his access to unconcealed taxpayer data as a weapon to further enhance his own personal information.” [and] “He ignored political agendas and believed himself to be above the law,” prosecutors said.
The attempt to steal his tax information continued for approximately two years while he was still employed by the company. Littlejohn also released numerous documents to liberal and left-wing media outlets in exchange for money. In court filings, prosecutors did not identify the media outlets that obtained the stolen tax returns. Nevertheless, propublica and new york times has published numerous articles covering President Trump's tax data leaks.
The personal tax returns of billionaires including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Warren Buffett, and Peter Thiel have been released. propublica In June 2021.
“Freedom of the press and public engagement with the media is critical to a healthy democracy, but theft or leakage of personal tax information deprives individuals of legal protection for their most sensitive data. ,” prosecutors said in their filing.
“Everyone is entitled to equal protection under the law,” they continued.
In the lawsuit seeking the maximum sentence, prosecutors argued that Littlejohn leaked the tax returns of more than 1,000 people, causing serious injury, including invasion of privacy and emotional distress.
The complaint alleges that Littlejohn's criminal conduct “undermined the public's trust and confidence in the Internal Revenue Service, an agency vital to the effective functioning of our nation's government.”
By the end of the year, Littlejohn had developed a “sophisticated and detailed plan” to secretly obtain President Trump's tax returns from certain internal IRS databases, according to the complaint. He gained access to unconcealed taxpayer data in February of the same year.
Mr. Littlejohn also used “more generalized parameters” to seek personal information about the president, while collecting information on his tax returns to avoid drawing attention to himself.
Littlejohn exploited flaws in IRS processes to secretly extract information and upload the stolen information to a secret website he controlled. I then downloaded the content to my personal computer and copied it to my Apple iPad, which I set up to act as my personal hard drive.
It also says Littlejohn destroyed and falsified his disclosure records to obstruct an investigation into his actions.
It's not entirely clear how authorities were able to identify Littlejohn's illegal activities.
A Booz Allen spokesperson issued a statement regarding the latest charges.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the actions of this individual who was active at the company many years ago. Our company has zero tolerance for violations of the law and upholds the highest ethical and professional guidelines. “We fully supported the U.S. government's investigation into this matter,” the spokesperson said.
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