In a stunning revelation, Charles Littlejohn, a 38-year-old IRS consultant from the District of Columbia, is facing charges for allegedly stealing and leaking tax return information associated with some of the nation’s wealthiest people – including former President Donald Trump.
The Justice Department unveiled this violation in a press release announcing that the agency is charging Littlejohn with one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns.
An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) consultant was charged today with disclosing tax return information without authorization.
According to court documents, Charles Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, D.C., while working at the IRS as a government contractor, stole tax return information associated with a high-ranking government official (Public Official A) and disclosed it to a news organization (News Organization 1). Littlejohn also stole tax return information for thousands of the nation’s wealthiest individuals, and disclosed this tax return information to another news organization (News Organization 2).
Littlejohn is charged with one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
The consultant’s alleged actions occurred between 2018 and 2020, and exposed sensitive tax return information that is typically placed under strict protections. It appears he leaked the information to high-profile media outlets.
The announcement comes more than two years after ProPublica said it had obtained a massive trove of information about the taxes and incomes of wealthy people, many of them well known, going back some 15 years. It published a series of stories showing many of them paid little or nothing in taxes.
The leak astonished many IRS veterans, not just because of its sheer scale, but because tax filings are subject to elaborate safeguards and unauthorized disclosures are rare.
Adding to the mystery was the silence of Biden administration officials, who had said virtually nothing publicly about the leak or how it had happened. Republicans accused Democrats of disclosing the information in hopes of fueling their push in Congress to raise taxes on the rich.
The charges against the consultant were filed as “criminal information,” which could suggest that the Justice Department might offer a plea deal to the consultant. At a time when the world is becoming increasingly reliant on digital security, Littlejohn’s alleged actions highlight the intricacies of keeping sensitive information safe from prying eyes and political motivations.
On Friday, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said the agency “has put in place new protocols and protections that tightened security, and our aggressive work in this critical area continues in order to protect the tax and financial information of taxpayers.”
Ken Griffin, a high-profile hedge fund manager and a GOP megadonor, sued the IRS for its failure to protect his records. “The government has a fundamental obligation to protect the confidentiality of Americans’ sensitive information, whether it be tax records or healthcare records.”
This case puts not only the IRS but the entire administration under scrutiny, which could explain why the White House has been silent on the matter. However, it would seem that a full-on investigation is warranted, given the fact that Littlejohn’s alleged crime could have been motivated by political concerns.