Raw: [Ex-IRS contractor pleads guilty to leaking tax returns of Donald Trump, showing that he paid next to nothing over several years Fortune] {Article Source: https://fortune.com/2023/10/12/donald-trump-irs-tax-return-leak-media-nyt/}
HomeNewsTechFinanceLeadershipWellRecommendsFortune 500Home PageAlready have an account?SIGN INSEARCHSubscribe NowSectionsFORTUNE 500NewsEuropeAsiaTechAIFinancePersonal FinanceReal EstateCryptoLeadershipSuccessWellLifeHealthMindFamilyAging WellRecommendsCredit CardsBankingInsuranceMortgagesInvestingLoansCouponsEducationVideoRankingsFORTUNE 500GLOBAL 500MOST POWERFUL WOMENGREAT PLACE TO WORK LISTSBEST MBA PROGRAMSMORE RANKINGSAnalyticsNewslettersMagazineDecember 2023/January 2024October/November 2023August/September 2023June/July 2023April/May 2023February/March 2023Live MediaCEO InitiativeConnect Politics ·IRSEx-IRS contractor pleads guilty to leaking tax returns of Donald Trump, showing that he paid next to nothing over several yearsBYLindsay Whitehurst and The Associated PressFormer President Donald Trump.Alon Skuy/Getty ImagesA former contractor for the Internal Revenue Service charged with leaking tax information to news outlets about former President Donald Trump and thousands of the country’s wealthiest people pleaded guilty to a federal charge Thursday in an agreement with prosecutors.
The Justice Department charged Charles Edward Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, D.C., with stealing tax return information and giving it to two news outlets between 2018 and 2020.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said she was deeply troubled by his actions that affected Trump and thousands of other people. “When we have people, for whatever reason, take the law into their own hands society doesn’t function,” she said. “Make no mistake, this was not acceptable. If anyone tells you the ends justify the means, they’re wrong.”
Littlejohn pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information. The count carries up to five years in prison, but the ultimate sentence will be decided by the judge. He is set to be sentenced Jan. 29.
His attorney Lisa Manning declined to comment.
The outlets were not named in the charges, but the description and time frame align with stories about Trump’s tax returns in The New York Times and reporting about wealthy Americans’ taxes in the nonprofit investigative journalism organization ProPublica.
The 2020 New York Times report found 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 then-Democratically controlled House Ways and Means Committee.
ProPublica, meanwhile, 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.
Both publications have declined to comment on the charges, and ProPublica reporters previously said they didn’t know the identity of the source. The stories sparked calls for reform on taxes for the wealthy — and calls for investigations into the leaking of tax information, which has specific legal protections.
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