Law The IRS Version of Julian Assange Charged With Leaking Trump's Tax Returns

[Siver!]

A man in the US has been charged with leaking the tax returns of a "high-ranking government official" who is understood to be Donald Trump.

Prosecutors said Charles Littlejohn, a contractor for the IRS - the US-wide tax body - stole the information and passed it on to a news organisation.

He is also accused of stealing tax return information of "thousands" of the US's "wealthiest individuals".

The Department of Justice alleges this data was given to another outlet.

Court documents say the two news organisations published "numerous articles" based on this information.

Neither have been charged with any wrongdoing.

Although the court documents do not name the government official, a source has confirmed to the BBC's partner in the US, CBS News, that it is former president Donald Trump.

The same person also said that the news organisation which received information about Mr Trump's tax returns was The New York Times, while the second, which received information about other individuals was the ProPublica website.

The New York Times declined to comment to CBS News about the claims, while ProPublica said in a statement to the outlet: "We have no comment on today's announcement from the DoJ. As we've said previously, ProPublica doesn't know the identity of the source who provided this trove of information on the taxes paid by the wealthiest Americans."

There has been no public comment from Mr Trump.

Court documents claim that between 2017 and 2021, Mr Littlejohn worked for an unnamed consultancy which in turn worked on contracts from the US Department of the Treasury's IRS, dealing with tax administration.

The papers go on to allege that between 2018 and 2020, while Mr Littlejohn was working on an IRS contract "he stole tax returns and return information", some of which dated back more than 15 years.

The charge against Mr Littlejohn is the unauthorised disclosure of tax returns and return information. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison. There has been no public comment from the Washington DC resident.

A 2020 article in The New York Times, which is thought to have been based on the leaked information, claimed that Mr Trump paid just $750 (£580) in federal income tax both in 2016, the year he ran for the US presidency, and in his first year in the White House.

The newspaper also said that he paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years and that the records reveal "chronic losses and years of tax avoidance".

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So is this guy a hero or a villain?

I know some people herald Assange and some consider him criminal scum.

Where do you stand with this?

 

[Mr Holmes]

He is categorically different from Assange. Assange has never stolen materials himself and would be more like Rachel Maddow that shares the stolen data.

 

[Lead]

Didn’t expect the leaker to be found. Don’t think he’s a hero though.

 

[nostradumbass]

In what way would he be a hero?

 

[Siver!]

In what way would he be a hero?

Exposing some rich dude who doesn't pay any tax will certainly make him a hero to some people.

 

[Jballer]

Can’t wait for all the Rogan bros who canonized Assange to go on the defensive for Trump. “This is a real problem when they can just expose private information like this.”

 

[Lead]

There’s been a few high level leaks recently and my thoughts had been it would accelerate without any consequences. Maybe this will start to reverse course on it. Whistle blowers are important but I think it needs to be a pretty scarce situation and the person has to accept there will be consequences to what they did. Even Snowden who fled knew his life would be completely altered with what he did.

This one doesn’t sit right as it seemed very politically motivated and I don’t think those in bureaucratic roles should be weaponizing private information. We as the public definitely can take in the information of any leak but I don’t think that’s the same thing as endorsing it.

 

[Siver!]

There’s been a few high level leaks recently and my thoughts had been it would accelerate without any consequences. Maybe this will start to reverse course on it. Whistle blowers are important but I think it needs to be a pretty scarce situation and the person has to accept there will be consequences to what they did. Even Snowden who fled knew his life would be completely altered with what he did.

This one doesn’t sit right as it seemed very politically motivated and I don’t think those in bureaucratic roles should be weaponizing private information. We as the public definitely can take in the information of any leak but I don’t think that’s the same thing as endorsing it.

Maybe this proves that there is no deep state, and there's always just a person with feelings behind all of it...

 

[CatchnShoot]

Total Hero, but..... he broke the law so, have fun in jail, dummy.

The NYT can't pardon you, bro.

 

[Fluffernutter]

The ol' contractor bit.

It's amazing just how so many contractors and consultants have such access to sensitive information.

One would assume that tightly guarded information like a person's tax information would be the responsibility of actual IRS agents, not a contractor.

 

[ocfightfan]

Exposing some rich dude who doesn't pay any tax will certainly make him a hero to some people.

Those people are known as idiots. This guy didn't leak Trumps tax returns because we have a bad tax system and he wants a better one. He did it to punish another US citizen for having different politics.

 

[Siver!]

Those people are known as idiots. This guy didn't leak Trumps tax returns because we have a bad tax system and he wants a better one. He did it to punish another US citizen for having different politics.

Seems unlikely unless all of the tax returns stolen were from Republican or right-leaning individuals.

 

[Lead]

Maybe this proves that there is no deep state, and there's always just a person with feelings behind all of it...

At the time, was that a theory it was orchestrated? I never even heard that.

The ol' contractor bit.

It's amazing just how so many contractors and consultants have such access to sensitive information.

One would assume that tightly guarded information like a person's tax information would be the responsibility of actual IRS agents, not a contractor.

With the intelligence agencies, there’s at least the argument pre 9-11 that to much information was withheld form each other so they needed to be more open. I don’t see the same reason for other groups with sensitive information. I think for the student loan forgiveness plan, one issue they ran into was they couldn’t determine income because the IRS didn’t provide that information with the department of education.

 

[ShadowRun]

He’s a criminal and should go to jail , Assange is a pos and should rot in jail

 

[Lead]

The other funny thing is I remember a pundit saying there were only a handful of people who could’ve leaked Trumps return but seeing it’s a contractor makes me think that is not at all true.

 

[Siver!]

He’s a criminal and should go to jail , Assange is a pos and should rot in jail

They're not gonna "rot" in jail because they probably won't die in jail, but at least you're consistent.

EDIT: I misread that post.

 

[Lead]

What is the time he’s looking at? Considering the volume, I feel like he’s screwed if that adds for each return.

 

[nostradumbass]

Exposing some rich dude who doesn't pay any tax will certainly make him a hero to some people.

I mean it's not really exposing anything when the guy who said himself he uses every deduction possible to pay as little as possible in taxes did exactly that. He wasn't one of the people running on raising taxes. Would be kind of an odd hero to have.

 

[ocfightfan]

Seems unlikely unless all of the tax returns stolen were from Republican or right-leaning individuals.

You could also say that about your explanation as well. If it's all about a principled stand against rich guys using unfair loopholes to avoid taxes then there are plenty of Democrats he could have gone after.

 

[Siver!]

You could also say that about your explanation as well. If it's all about a principled stand against rich guys using unfair loopholes to avoid taxes then there are plenty of Democrats he could have gone after.

But that's what I'm saying, it's perfectly possible he did.