IRS contractor accused of leaking tax info of Donald Trump and 'thousands' of America's wealthiest individuals pleads guilty

An Internal Revenue Service contractor accused of stealing and leaking tax return information belonging to former President Donald Trump and "thousands" of the wealthiest Americans pleaded guilty on Thursday, according to a Department of Justice press release.

Charles Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, D.C., was working at the IRS when he stole tax information associated with "a high-ranking government official," the DOJ stated. While the department's news release did not name the government official, several media outlets have reported that Littlejohn was responsible for leaking Trump's tax records.

The DOJ noted that Littlejohn used "broad search parameters" in an attempt to "conceal the true purpose of his queries." The government contractor saved the sensitive information to multiple personal storage devices.

Between August 2019 and October 2019, Littlejohn sent the tax information to a news organization, believed to be the New York Times. The outlet later published an article detailing Trump's tax returns after receiving 10 years' worth of information.

Littlejohn also pleaded guilty to stealing tax return information belonging to "thousands of the nation's wealthiest individuals" in July and August 2020. Again, the information was provided to an unnamed news outlet, the DOJ reported.

In 2021, ProPublica published an article regarding the tax information of some of the wealthiest people in the United States. A spokesperson told CNN earlier this month that the outlet "doesn't know the identity of the source who provided this trove of information."

"Littlejohn pleaded guilty to unauthorized disclosure of tax return and return information," the DOJ stated. Despite stealing massive amounts of sensitive tax return information belonging to thousands of individuals, Littlejohn faces a maximum sentence of only five years behind bars. He is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2024.

The IRS' internal watchdog, the office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, investigated the case.

"By using his role as a government contractor to gain access to private tax information, steal that information, and disclose it publicly, Charles Littlejohn broke federal law and betrayed the public's trust," Attorney General Merrick Garland said. "In every case, the Department of Justice is committed to following the facts wherever they lead and holding accountable those who violate our laws."

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel claimed that the agency has adopted "new protocols and protections that tightened security."

"Our aggressive work in this critical area continues in order to protect the tax and financial information of taxpayers," he added.

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