A former Internal Revenue Service contractor accused of leaking the tax documents of Donald J. Trump and other wealthy Americans was sentenced on Monday to five years in prison.
The former contractor, Charles Littlejohn, known as Chaz, worked for the tax agency from 2017 to 2021, when he stole the tax records of thousands of the country’s wealthiest people, including Mr. Trump, prosecutors said. Mr. Littlejohn then provided the information to The New York Times and ProPublica.
Prosecutors said his actions “appear to be unparalleled in the I.R.S.’s history.”
Mr. 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, Mr. 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 M. Argentieri, the acting assistant attorney general who oversees the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a statement. Prosecutors said the harm from Mr. Littlejohn’s disclosures were “so extensive and ongoing that it is impossible to quantify.”
A spokesman for Mr. Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Trump refused to disclose his tax returns, the first president to do so since the 1970s. The documents, considered critical to understanding his wealth and business practices, drew so much public interest that the I.R.S. commissioner at the time ordered that Mr. Trump’s filings be secured in a special vault.
Mr. Littlejohn, who had also worked as a contractor for the I.R.S. between 2008 and 2013, sought work there again in 2017 with the purpose of stealing Mr. Trump’s tax records, prosecutors said. During that time, prosecutors said, Mr. Littlejohn “weaponized his access to unmasked taxpayer data to further his own personal, political agenda, believing that he was above the law.”