Ex-IRS contractor gets five years in prison for leak of tax return information of Trump, rich people

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former contractor for the Internal Revenue Service who pleaded guilty to leaking tax information to news outlets about former President Donald Trump and thousands of the country’s wealthiest people was sentenced to five years in prison Monday.

Charles Edward Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information. He gave the information to two news outlets between 2018 and 2020.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said she handed down the highest possible sentence to deter anyone else who might feel “an obligation to break the law.”

Littlejohn apologized to the people affected and for undermining “the fragile trust we place in government.”