A former contractor for the Internal Revenue Service charged with leaking tax information to news outlets about former President Donald Trump and thousands of the country’s wealthiest people pleaded guilty Thursday in an agreement with prosecutors. The Justice Department charged 38-year-old Charles Edward Littlejohn of Washington D.C.
FILE - A sign outside the Internal Revenue Service building is seen on May 4, 2021, in Washington. A former contractor for the Internal Revenue Service has been charged with leaking tax information to news outlets about a government official and thousands of the country’s wealthiest people. The Justice Department said in a statement Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, that 38-year-old Charles Edward Littlejohn of Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said she was deeply troubled by his actions that affected Trump and thousands of other people. “When we have people, for whatever reason, take the law into their own hands society doesn’t function,” she said. “Make no mistake, this was not acceptable. If anyone tells you the ends justify the means, they’re wrong.”
Littlejohn pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information. The count carries up to five years in prison, but the ultimate sentence will be decided by the judge. He is set to be sentenced Jan. 29.Judge scolds prosecutors as she delays hearing for co-defendant in Trump classified documents case
The outlets were not named in the charges, but the description and time frame align with stories about Trump’s tax returns in The New York Times and reporting about wealthy Americans’ taxes in the nonprofit investigative journalism organization ProPublica.found Trump paid $750 in federal income tax the year he entered the White House and no income tax at all some years thanks to colossal losses. Six years of his returnson a trove of tax-return data about the wealthiest Americans.
Both publications have declined to comment on the charges, and ProPublica reporters previously said they didn’t know the identity of the source. The stories sparked calls for reform on taxes for the wealthy — and calls for investigations into the leaking of tax information, which has specific legal protections.
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