A former IRS consultant was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for leaking tax information about “thousands of the nation’s wealthiest individuals” to the media from 2018 to 2020.
Charles Littlejohn, 38, pleaded guilty in October to one count of fraudulent disclosure of tax returns and tax return information after reaching a plea deal with government prosecutors.
The Justice Department has not named the media outlets or individuals whose tax information was released, but Littlejohn’s description and chronology of his actions are similar to those published by The New York Times and ProPublica on former President Trump’s tax returns. This is consistent with the reports.Littlejohn acknowledged in court filings that he sent his records to these media outlets.
The New York Times published an article titled “Years of hidden records show Mr. Trump’s chronic losses and years of tax avoidance.” September 27, 2020 — Prosecutors announced on the same day that the first article related to the Littlejohn leaks was published.
The second outlet Littlejohn pointed to is ProPublica. Published nearly 50 articles The Justice Department said it would begin in June 2021, based on tax return information disclosed by Littlejohn.
Prosecutors had asked Littlejohn to serve five years in prison for applying to cooperate with the IRS to access and disclose tax returns.
“Defendants believed they were above the law and weaponized their access to unconcealed taxpayer data to further their personal and political objectives,” prosecutors wrote. their judgment memo.
The Justice Department also said that while freedom of the press and public engagement with the media is “critical to a healthy democracy,” the “theft and leakage” of personal tax information “removes the most sensitive data from individuals.” “It takes away legal protections.”
Littlejohn said in a court filing that he should receive a reduced sentence because he admitted cooperating with the government and stealing records and providing them to reporters.
“He committed this crime out of a deep moral belief that the American people have a right to information and that sharing it is the only way to effect change,” attorney Lisa Manning wrote. There is. Judgment memo. “He did what he thought was right at the time, and he now fully admits he was wrong.”
The Associated Press contributed.
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