Ex-IRS contractor sentenced to five years in jail for leaking Trump tax information

WASHINGTON — The previous Inner Income Service contractor who leaked the tax information of former President Donald Trump to The New York Times in addition to the tax information of billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to ProPublica was sentenced Monday to 5 years in jail.

Charles Littlejohn pleaded guilty in October, and prosecutors sought the statutory most of 5 years in federal jail, saying that he “abused his position by unlawfully disclosing thousands of Americans’ federal tax returns and other private financial information to multiple news organizations.” Prosecutors stated that Littlejohn “weaponized his access to unmasked taxpayer data to further his own personal, political agenda, believing that he was above the law.”

Littlejohn was sentenced by U.S. District Decide Ana C. Reyes at a listening to on the federal courthouse in Washington. He will even should pay a $5,000 fantastic.

“You can be an outstanding person and commit bad acts,” Reyes stated. “What you did in targeting the sitting president of the United States was an attack on our constitutional democracy,” she added. 

Reyes in contrast Littlejohn’s actions to different current assaults and threats towards elected officers in addition to to Jan. 6 defendants she has not too long ago sentenced. She described his actions as a deliberate, complicated, multiyear legal scheme, however stated she believed he “sincerely felt a moral imperative” to behave as he did.

Littlejohn’s lawyer argued that he had dedicated the offense “out of a deep, moral belief that the American people had a right to know the information and sharing it was the only way to effect change” and that he believed he was proper on the time.

Whereas Littlejohn’s conduct was “inexcusable,” his lawyer stated, and “breached the trust placed in him by the United States government and violated the privacy of thousands of taxpayers,” a “strong message of general deterrence” had already been despatched to the general public.

Littlejohn, 38, who grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, briefly addressed the courtroom earlier than receiving his sentence, saying that he “acted out of a sincere but misguided belief that I was serving the public.”

Taxpayers deserved to know the way simple it was for the rich to keep away from paying into the system, Littlejohn added, saying he believes that Individuals make their finest choices when correctly knowledgeable.

“I made my decision with the full knowledge that I would likely end up in a courtroom,” he stated.