A former contractor for the Internal Revenue Service who pleaded guilty to leaking tax information to news outlets about Donald Trump and thousands of the country's wealthiest people was sentenced to five years in prison Monday. Charles Edward Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, DC, pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information, the AP reports. He gave the information to two news outlets between 2018 and 2020. US District Judge Ana Reyes said she handed down the stiffest 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." Reyes, who questioned why Littlejohn faced a single felony count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information, also imposed three years of supervised release and a $5,000 fine. Republican US Sen. Rick Scott said he was among those whose tax information was leaked by Littlejohn. The possibility it could be published affects his entire family, Scott said, arguing that Littlejohn should have faced additional criminal charges from the Justice Department for exposing personal information "just to harm people."
The data was turned over to the New York Times, which reported on it in 2020, and ProPublica, neither of which has commented on the case, per the AP. ProPublica reporters have said they didn't know the identity of their source. The IRS said it has since tightened security, per the AP. (More Trump tax return stories.)
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