A former IRS contractor was sentenced to five years in prison for leaking former President Donald Trump’s tax returns, along with the records of thousands of other wealthy individuals, to the news media.
On Monday, a district court judge agreed with the Justice Department that Charles Littlejohn, 38, deserved the maximum sentence for what she called “egregious” crimes.
Remember the IRS contractor that leaked Trump’s tax returns to the media?
They just got 5 years in federal prison
Hope the TDS was worth it!
All you did was show that Trump pays his taxes (unlike Hunter Biden)https://t.co/5PD8HcBBkM pic.twitter.com/xNAgBRGu6G
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) January 29, 2024
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, a President Biden nominee, focused on Littlejohn’s decision to release Trump’s filings, which Reyes called “an attack on our constitutional democracy.”
“When you target the sitting president of the United States, you’re targeting the office, and when you’re targeting the office of the president of the United States, you’re targeting democracy, you’re targeting our constitutional system of government,” Reyes said.
“I acted out of a sincere, if misguided, belief I was serving the public interest. My actions undermined the fragile trust we place in government,” Littlejohn said in his apology.
Defense attorney Lisa Manning asked for a lighter sentence due to Littlejohn’s lack of criminal record; however, Reyes pushed back, saying the crime was unimaginable and the sentence must “deter others who might feel an obligation to break the law.”
Judge 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.
According to federal prosecutors, Littlejohn desired a job as an IRS consultant to leak Trump’s returns in 2019. Littlejohn had worked for Booz Allen from 2008 to 2013, but he returned to the company as an IRS consultant in 2017.
Prosecutors say the strategic move was meant to grant him access to private tax information that would allow him to leak Trump’s tax returns. According to the DOJ, Littlejohn considered Trump a threat to democracy.
“He did not make a snap judgment. He made a series of decisions. This court cannot let others view this conduct as acceptable, and I need to send the strongest possible message that we are a nation of laws,” Reyes said Monday.
Following his sentencing on Monday, Littlejohn was ordered to turn himself in by April 30.
