DOJ: Ex-IRS employee who leaked Trump's tax returns intentionally got job to disclose records

WASHINGTON – A former Internal Revenue Service contractor, who leaked tax information about Donald Trump and other wealthy individuals to news organizations, got his job to intentionally to spread the confidential records, according to Justice Department prosecutors.

Charles Edward Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, pleaded guilty in October to unauthorized disclosure of tax return and return information. U.S. District Judge Ana Reye scheduled sentencing for Jan. 29. Prosecutors recommended Tuesday he receive the maximum sentence of five years in prison.

“After applying to work as an IRS consultant with the intention of accessing and disclosing tax returns, Defendant weaponized his access to unmasked taxpayer data to further his own personal, political agenda, believing that he was above the law,” wrote prosecutors Corey Amundson, chief of the Justice Department’s public integrity section, Jennifer Clarke and Jonathan Jacobson.

Littlejohn hasn't filed his own arguments about his sentencing yet. But prosecutors described him as a college graduate with a loving family who had started a successful business and worked as a consultant.

"Based on his training, his personal experience, and his work, he understood the gravity of his offense," prosecutors wrote. "He understood the impact that it would have on his victims. But he acted anyway."

Littlejohn, who had worked as an IRS consultant from 2008 to 2013, applied to return in 2017 "with the hope and expectation of accessing and disclosing tax returns and return information," prosecutors said.

Rather than search specifically for Trump's returns, which might have triggered scrutiny, he submitted sophisticated searches that gathered data about the former president and others, according to court records. Littlejohn later destroyed machines he downloaded information onto, according to court records.

"Throughout Defendant’s scheme, he undertook efforts to obstruct and impede the investigation that he anticipated would follow the publication of the tax data he had stolen," prosecutors said.

The news organizations aren’t named in court records, but the description of the tax records and timing in late 2019 and late 2020 coincide with stories about Trump’s tax returns in The New York Times and about wealthy Americans’ taxes in ProPublica, which published more than 50 articles.

In July and August 2020, Littlejohn stole tax information for thousands of Americans, according to court records.

Littlejohn evaded IRS protocols to detect and prevent large downloads from government computers and then saved the tax returns on multiple devices, including an iPod, according to court records. He also obstructed the investigation by deleting and destroying evidence of his disclosures, according to court records.

The New York Times reported in 2020 Trump paid $750 in federal income tax the year he entered the White House and no income tax at all some years thanks to colossal losses. Six years of his returns were later released by the House Ways and Means Committee, when it was controlled by Democrats.

ProPublica reported in 2021 on a trove of tax-return data about the wealthiest Americans. It found the 25 richest people legally pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than many ordinary workers do.

"And the human impact of Defendant's crimes is enormous," prosecutors wrote. "Many victims have come forward, expressing anger and embarrassment about the exposure of their personal financial information. Worse, it appears that the harm may continue indefinitely" because stories continue to be published.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: IRS consultant got job to leak Trump's tax returns, DOJ says