He also got compared to the January 6 crew in court.
A former government contractor who leaked a slew of confidential tax records filed by the wealthiest Americans, including those of President Donald Trump, was sentenced Monday to the maximum of five years in prison in what a federal judge called “the biggest heist in IRS history.”
U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes said Littlejohn deserved the maximum sentence she could impose, because he had targeted a sitting president and thousands of others. Prosecutors said Littlejohn had disclosed the tax returns of about 7,600 individuals and 600 entities.
After comparing Littlejohn to the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Reyes said judges had to send a message that “open season on our elected officials” would not be tolerated and that “an independent and steadfast judiciary stands ready to punish anyone who holds his personal political beliefs above the law.”
From 2018 to 2020, Littlejohn supplied New York Times and ProPublica with Trump tax documents that the media had been trying to track down for years and, while he was at it, released a bunch more. PP went on to publish “Never-Before-Seen Trump Tax Documents Show Major Inconsistencies” in October, 2019. See also: the “The Secret IRS Files, Inside the Tax Records of the .001%” category in which PP reports on “a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth.”
In court, Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes did not mince words. It seems Charlie purposely went out and got an IRS contractor job with Booz Allen Hamilton for the purpose of getting his hands on these tax returns. “Mr. Littlejohn did not make a snap judgment; he made a series of calculated decisions over two to three years to willfully violate the law. Most stunning, Mr. Littlejohn has admitted that he sought to work as an IRS consultant with the hope and expectation of accessing and disclosing then-President Trump’s tax information,” she said. “This court cannot permit others to view this type of conduct as acceptable or justifiable or worth the trade-off, no matter what their purported political or ideological motivation may be.”
“I alone am responsible for this crime,” he said to the judge. He knew what he was doing and was prepared for the consequence. In this case, the consequence being a maximum sentence of five years, a stern talking-to from the judge, and forever being lumped in with this guy.
Further reading: Man Who Leaked Trump’s and Bezos’ Tax Returns Sentenced to Five Years in Prison [WSJ]
