Ex-IRS Contractor Littlejohn Sentenced for Disclosing Trump Tax Returns
Former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) contractor Charles Littlejohn is going to be doing a lot of pacing from the window to the wall of a federal prison over the next five years.
Littlejohn–not to be confused with early 2000s American rapper, record producer, and hype man Lil Jon–was sentenced to five years in prison for leaking President Trump’s tax returns, and the tax returns of other wealthy Americans, including Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, before sending them to ProPublica and the New York Times.
He also received three years of supervised release and a $5,000 fine.
Littlejohn received the stiffest sentence possible, after pleading guilty in October to one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information.
“He violated his responsibility to safeguard the sensitive information that was entrusted to his care, and now he is a convicted felon,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Criminal Division.
“An Attack on Constitutional Democracy”
During the sentencing hearing, prosecutors requested the maximum sentence, noting that Littlejohn got a job as an IRS contractor specifically to release then President Trump’s tax returns and "weaponized his access to unmasked taxpayer data to further his own personal, political agenda, believing that he was above the law."
Federal District Judge Ana Reyes went a step further saying Littlejohn’s actions amounted to “an attack on our constitutional democracy” and likening his actions to those of the January 6 attackers.
“Mr. Littlejohn did not make a snap judgment; he made a series of calculated decisions over two to three years to willfully violate the law. Most stunning, Mr. Littlejohn has admitted that he sought to work as an IRS consultant with the hope and expectation of accessing and disclosing then-President Trump’s tax information,” Judge Reyes said.
“He targeted the sitting president of the United States of America, and that is exceptional by any measure," said Judge Reyes. "It cannot be open season on our elected officials."
“Sincere but Misguided Belief”
In a brief speech before the court, Littlejohn apologized for leaking the data, and said he "acted out of a sincere but misguided belief that [he] was serving the public” noting that he “made my decision with the full knowledge that [he] would likely end up in a courtroom.”
Littlejohn worked off and on for Booz Allen Hamilton from 2008 to 2013. He applied to return to Booz Allen again in 2017 with the goal of accessing then-President Trump’s tax returns.
According to his lawyer, Littlejohn figured out how to obtain records through searches that would not raise red flags. He obtained 15 years of the president’s tax return data by the end of 2018.
Prosecutors said Littlejohn uploaded the Trump tax documents to a private website to avoid IRS detectors that flag large downloads or uploads from the agency’s systems. He then stored them on various devices including an iPod, before leaking them to the New York Times, which published a related story in 2020.
Separately, Littlejohn accessed the tax returns of “thousands of the nation’s wealthiest individuals” in July and August 2020, using the same process.
That information was leaked to ProPublica which published over 50 stories on the tax returns of America’s wealthiest.
TIGTA’s Role
The investigation was led by the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).
"TIGTA relentlessly investigates individuals who illicitly access and disclose taxpayer information, regardless of their personal motivation. TIGTA appreciates the commitment of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in ensuring those who abuse their positions of public trust are held accountable for their actions,” said TIGTA acting inspector general Heather Hill.