A former Internal Revenue Service contractor, who leaked tax information about Donald Trump and other wealthy individuals to news organizations, got his job to intentionally to spread the confidential records, according to Justice Department prosecutors.

Charles Edward Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, pleaded guilty in October to unauthorized disclosure of tax return and return information. U.S. District Judge Ana Reye scheduled sentencing for Jan. 29. Prosecutors recommended Tuesday he receive the maximum sentence of five years in prison.

“After applying to work as an IRS consultant with the intention of accessing and disclosing tax returns, Defendant weaponized his access to unmasked taxpayer data to further his own personal, political agenda, believing that he was above the law,” wrote prosecutors Corey Amundson, chief of the Justice Department’s public integrity section, Jennifer Clarke and Jonathan Jacobson.

  • alienanimals@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Everyone’s taxes should be public information. There are too many rich assholes hiding the fact that they don’t pay their fair share.

    • WildPalmTree@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Sweden. It’s not for the current year but the previously declared incomes. Anyone can get them. Seems to work just fine.

    • Copernican@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      How does making it public stop that problem? If anything that would probably just screw people over if potential employers could see exactly how much money you make. Let’s make it illegal for an employer to ask how much you currently make, but then let employers just query a DB of your income? That doesn’t make any sense.