In a recent development, Charles Edward Littlejohn, a 38-year-old former contractor for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), was indicted on Friday for allegedly leaking confidential tax information of numerous affluent Americans to media outlets.
The Justice Department, in its official statement, accused Littlejohn of pilfering tax return data and disseminating it to two news organizations between 2018 and 2020. Littlejohn, a resident of Washington, D.C., refrained from making any comments when approached by The Associated Press. His attorney, Lisa Manning, was also unavailable for comment.
The leaked tax information, some of which dates back over 15 years, was extensively covered in several articles published by the two media outlets. Although the charging documents do not explicitly name the outlets, the details and timeline correspond with reports on former President Donald Trump's tax returns by The New York Times and ProPublica's coverage of the tax details of wealthy Americans.
The New York Times, in its 2020 report, revealed that Trump paid a mere $750 in federal income tax the year he assumed office and in some years, paid no income tax due to significant losses. The House Ways and Means Committee, then under Democratic control, later made public six years of Trump's tax returns. The newspaper, however, declined to comment on the matter.
In 2021, ProPublica published a report based on a cache of tax return data of the richest Americans, revealing that the top 25 wealthiest individuals legally pay a smaller percentage of their income in taxes compared to many average workers.
A spokesperson for ProPublica refrained from commenting on the charges, but added that the reporters were unaware of the identity of their source. The revelations led to demands for reforms and an investigation into the leak of protected tax information.
Littlejohn is facing a single count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted.
The IRS, while declining to comment specifically on the case, stated through Commissioner Danny Werfel that any disclosure of taxpayer information is unacceptable. He added that the agency has since bolstered its security measures.
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