On Friday, September 29, the U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against a former contractor for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regarding the unauthorized disclosure of tax return information.
This significant breach involves data from multiple wealthy Americans, notably former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Charles Littlejohn, an IRS employee from 2017 to 2021, stands accused of sharing protected tax information spanning over 15 years, which allegedly made its way to major news organizations.
The leakage of this data created significant ripples in the media landscape, with The New York Times publishing reports examining Trump’s tax returns and ProPublica shedding light on the tax information of the country’s wealthiest individuals.
The charges against Littlejohn align closely with the timing and content of these published articles.
While the charges have attracted widespread attention due to the association with the former President, the indictment against Littlejohn extends beyond Trump’s data. Reports from news outlets reveal that thousands of the nation’s wealthiest individuals had their tax information compromised and subsequently disclosed to the media.
This breach raises fundamental concerns about data security and the measures in place to protect sensitive information within government entities.