A federal appeals court is upholding the five-year prison sentence for Charles Littlejohn, a consultant to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) who leaked President Trump's tax return information to the New York Times and tax information about thousands of the richest Americans, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffett, to ProPublica.
The 16-page opinion by a three-judge panel, Justin Walker, Neomi Rao, and Judith Rogers, found that the sentence was reasonable, offering a scathing narrative of Littlejohn's behavior. The court's decision highlights the serious consequences of leaking sensitive tax information, which can have far-reaching effects on individuals and businesses.
Leaking Tax Information: A Serious Offense
According to the opinion, Littlejohn obtained a job as a consultant to the IRS in 2017 with the intention of stealing and leaking tax returns. He gave President Trump's tax return and return information to a New York Times reporter in 2019 and helped analyze the data. Littlejohn also leaked more tax returns and return information to supplement his original leak, which was published by the New York Times just weeks before the 2020 presidential election.
The opinion states that Littlejohn used his skills to systematically violate the privacy of thousands of innocent people, stealing the tax returns and return information of about 600 entities and approximately 7,600 of the wealthiest Americans. He then leaked the stolen information to ProPublica, which used the data in about 50 articles.
As a result of Littlejohn's crime, his victims lost business, were disparaged, and their families were physically threatened. The opinion also notes that ProPublica is still in possession of unpublished data stolen by Littlejohn, leaving the affected taxpayers fearful of future publication.
Littlejohn pleaded guilty in 2023 to one count of unlawfully disclosing tax information and was sentenced to the maximum five-year prison term, a $5,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and three years of supervised release. The appeals panel found that his crime was politically motivated and an attack on the sitting president and the constitutional democracy.
According to the Bureau of Prisons, Littlejohn, 41, is being held at the federal correctional institution in Marion, Illinois, with a scheduled release date of August 8, 2027.