The Times reported in September 2020 that Trump paid solely $750 in federal earnings tax in 2016 and 2017.
Washington:
A former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) contractor who leaked former US president Donald Trump’s tax returns to the media was sentenced to 5 years in jail on Monday.
Charles Littlejohn, 38, pleaded responsible in October to unlawfully disclosing tax data.
US District Judge Ana Reyes imposed the utmost penalty of 5 years in jail on the ex-IRS contractor’s sentencing in Washington on Monday.
Littlejohn was accused by federal prosecutors of leaking the tax returns of a “high-ranking authorities official” to a information group.
Neither the official nor the information outlet have been recognized by the Justice Department however it has been broadly reported in US media that the tax returns have been these of Trump and the information group was The New York Times.
The Times reported in September 2020 that Trump, who has refused to make his tax returns public, paid solely $750 in federal earnings tax in 2016 and 2017, and none in any respect for 10 of the earlier 15 years.
Littlejohn was additionally accused of leaking the tax data of 1000’s of the wealthiest people within the United States to a different unidentified information outlet.
That outlet is believed to be ProPublica, a nonprofit journalism group which revealed in depth experiences in June 2021 based mostly on the tax data, a venture it dubbed “The Secret IRS Files.”
“Charles Littlejohn abused his place as a guide on the Internal Revenue Service by disclosing 1000’s of Americans’ federal tax returns and different personal monetary data to information organizations,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri mentioned in an announcement.
“He violated his duty to safeguard the delicate data that was entrusted to his care, and now he’s a convicted felon,” Argentieri added.
According to court docket filings, Littlejohn accessed tax returns on an IRS database and saved them on a number of private storage units, together with an iPod.