FORMER IRS CONTRACTOR SENTENCED IN LEAK CASE

A former IRS contractor accused of leaking the tax documents of Donald Trump and other wealthy Americans was sentenced Monday to five years in prison.

The former contractor, Charles Littlejohn, worked for the tax agency from 201721, when he stole the tax records of thousands of the country’s wealthiest people, including Trump, prosecutors said. Littlejohn then provided the information to The New York Times and ProPublica.

Prosecutors said his actions “appear to be unparalleled in the IRS’ history.”

Littlejohn, 38, pleaded guilty late last year to one count of the unauthorized disclosure of tax return information. In addition to five years in prison, which is one of the largest sentences in a federal leak investigation, Littlejohn was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, 300 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine.

“Today’s sentence sends a strong message that those who violate laws intended to protect sensitive tax information will face significant punishment,” Nicole Argentieri, the acting assistant attorney general who oversees the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a statement. Prosecutors said the harm from Littlejohn’s disclosures was “so extensive and ongoing that it is impossible to quantify.”

Littlejohn, who had also worked as a contractor for the IRS between 2008 and 2013, sought work there again in 2017 with the purpose of stealing Trump’s tax records, prosecutors said. During that time, prosecutors said, Littlejohn “weaponized his access to unmasked taxpayer data to further his own personal, political agenda, believing that he was above the law.”

In 2020, citing Trump’s tax documents, the Times reported that the former president paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016, the year he was elected president, and that he had not paid any income taxes in 10 of the previous 15 years. In 2021, ProPublica published details about how the 25 wealthiest Americans, including Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg and Elon Musk, paid relatively little in federal income taxes. The disclosures revived Democrats’ calls for imposing a wealth tax.