Ex-IRS worker who leaked tax returns of Trump, others sentenced to 5 years in prison

The former IRS contractor who leaked the tax returns of then-President Trump and thousands of other wealthy Americans was sentenced Monday to five years in prison.

Charles Littlejohn, who cast himself as digital-era Robin Hood, must also pay a $5,000 fine.

“You have caused and have risked causing immense harm to thousands of Americans,” U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes told Mr. Littlejohn as she handed down the sentence.

Littlejohn, who pleaded guilty, had begged for leniency days earlier. He said at the time, he thought it would benefit society to leak tax information of the privileged.

His attorney told the court that Littlejohn now sees what he did was wrong.

The New York Times reported leaked details from Mr. Trump’s tax returns in September 2020, just weeks before the presidential election. Littlejohn also disclosed tax returns for wealthy people such as Ken Griffin, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to the ProPublica news outlet.

“He violated his responsibility to safeguard the sensitive information that was entrusted to his care, and now he is a convicted felon. Today’s sentence sends a strong message that those who violate laws intended to protect sensitive tax information will face significant punishment,” said Nicole M. Argentieri, an acting assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Littlejohn, 38, had pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information, angering Republicans who said the deal ignored the breadth of the disclosures.

Sen. Rick Scott, Florida Republican whose returns also were leaked, said it was a “sweetheart” deal that disregarded the large number of victims.

“The Biden Justice Department has become politicized to attack the regime’s enemies and protect its friends,” he said.

Yet Judge Reyes said she handed down the highest possible sentence to deter anyone else who might feel “an obligation to break the law.”

Littlejohn apologized to the people affected and for undermining “the fragile trust we place in government.”

In earlier proceedings, prosecutors said Littlejohn sought an IRS consulting job in 2017 with the goal of stealing and leaking Mr. Trump’s data.

Prosecutors said Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, acquired Mr. Trump’s tax returns in 2022 through a legal process.

For the other wealthy taxpayers, Littlejohn didn’t limit himself to tax returns. He leaked stock trades, gambling winnings and IRS audit determinations.

• This article is based in part on wire service reports.