IRS Contractor Charged With Leaking Tax Records Of Wealthiest Americans And ‘High-Ranking Government Official’

Forbes Business Breaking IRS Contractor Charged With Leaking Tax Records Of Wealthiest Americans And ‘High-Ranking Government Official’ Antonio Pequeño IV Forbes Staff I cover breaking news. Following Sep 29, 2023, 06:35pm EDT | Press play to listen to this article! Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline An IRS consultant was charged Friday with stealing and leaking the tax returns of thousands of the country’s wealthiest people and a “high-ranking government official,” which multiple outlets identified as former President Donald Trump. The consultant was charged with a crime carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

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[+] credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images Key Facts Charles Littlejohn, 38, was charged with one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information—a charge that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Prosecutors allege Littlejohn carried out the crime between about 2018 until in or about 2020, claiming he disclosed information about the high-ranking official to one news outlet and information about the wealthy individuals to a separate news outlet. The news outlets were not named in the filing, but were described as organizations that published “numerous articles describing the tax information they obtained from the defendant.

” The timeline of the alleged disclosures reportedly matches up with a 2021 ProPublica story detailing tax records of the nation’s wealthiest people and a 2020 New York Times article about information from Trump’s 2016 and 2017 tax records. The New York Times, a representative for Trump and Littlejohn’s lawyer did not immediately respond to Forbes ’ requests for comment. Contra “We have no comment on today’s announcement from the DOJ,” A ProPublica spokesperson told Forbes .

“As we’ve said previously, ProPublica doesn’t know the identity of the source who provided this trove of information on the taxes paid by the wealthiest Americans. ” Key Background The ProPublica story from 2021 revealed information about the income and tax numbers behind some of the nation’s wealthiest people, including billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Warren Buffett and Michael Bloomberg, identifying several years where the ultra-wealthy didn’t pay any federal income taxes. ProPublica has repeatedly said it didn’t know the identity of the source of the information behind the story.

The article from the Times detailing Trump’s 2016 and 2017 tax records also revealed the ex-president paid little to no federal income taxes, which the news outlet reported was often accomplished through business losses used to absolve the former president of having to pay taxes. Further Reading IRS Contractor Is Charged in Leak of Trump Tax Returns, Thousands of Wealthy Americans’ Records (WSJ) IRS consultant charged in massive leak of taxpayer data (Politico) Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn . Send me a secure tip .

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