The Department of Justice (DOJ) informed a sentencing judge Wednesday that a former contractor for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Charles Littlejohn, intentionally took on the role so he could steal and leak former President Trump’s tax returns.
Littlejohn pleaded guilty to unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information in October of last year. Prosecutors have requested the maximum penalty of five years in prison, citing Littlejohn’s breach of public trust, claiming it “merits significant punishment.”
According to prosecutors, Littlejohn “weaponized his access to unmasked taxpayer data to further his own personal, political agenda, believing that he was above the law.” Littlejohn, who had worked for Booz Allen between 2008 and 2013, returned to the company “with the intention of accessing and disclosing” Trump’s tax returns, viewing the former president as “dangerous and a threat to democracy.”
Prosecutors are pushing for the maximum sentence, arguing that Littlejohn leaked over a thousand individuals’ tax returns, which resulted in significant harm, including invasion of privacy, psychological distress, and undermining “public faith and confidence in the IRS, an institution that is critical to the effective functioning of our government.”
