a former contractor IRS The man accused of leaking tax information about former President Donald Trump and thousands of America’s wealthiest people to the news media pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal charge in a deal with prosecutors.
Ministry of Justice Charges Charles Edward Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, D.C., with stealing tax return information and providing it to two news outlets between 2018 and 2020.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said she was deeply troubled by the way Trump’s actions affected him and thousands of others. “Society cannot function when we have people who, for whatever reason, take the law into their own hands,” she said. “There is no doubt that this is unacceptable. If anyone tells you that the end justifies the means, they are wrong.”
Littlejohn pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and tax return information. The offense carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, but the final sentence will be determined by a judge. He will be sentenced on January 29.
His attorney, Lisa Manning, declined to comment.
The outlets are not named in the charges, but the description and time frame are consistent with reporting by The New York Times on Trump’s tax returns and by ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, on the taxes paid by wealthy Americans.
2020 New York Times Report The study found that Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he entered the White House, and due to huge losses, no income taxes were paid at all in some years.Six years since returning later released It was run by the House Ways and Means Committee, which was controlled by Democrats at the time.
Meanwhile, ProPublica 2021 report A wealth of tax return data on the wealthiest Americans. The 25 richest people legally pay less in taxes as a proportion of their income than many ordinary workers, the investigation found.
Both publications declined to comment on the allegations, and ProPublica reporters previously said they did not know the identities of the sources. The stories have sparked calls for tax reform on the wealthy and calls for investigations into leaked tax information, which has certain legal protections.
The IRS said any disclosure of taxpayer information is unacceptable and the agency has strengthened security measures.
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