Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a marketing campaign occasion on January 06, 2024 in Newton, Iowa.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Photographs
WASHINGTON — The previous Inner Income Service contractor who leaked the tax information of former President Donald Trump to The New York Occasions in addition to the tax information of billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to ProPublica was sentenced Monday to 5 years in jail.
Charles Littlejohn pleaded responsible in October, and prosecutors sought the statutory most of 5 years in federal jail, saying that he “abused his place by unlawfully disclosing 1000’s of Individuals’ federal tax returns and different personal monetary data to a number of information organizations.” Prosecutors mentioned that Littlejohn “weaponized his entry to unmasked taxpayer knowledge to additional his personal private, political agenda, believing that he was above the legislation.”
Littlejohn was sentenced by U.S. District Choose Ana C. Reyes at a listening to on the federal courthouse in Washington. He may even need to pay a $5,000 fantastic.
“You could be an excellent individual and commit dangerous acts,” Reyes mentioned. “What you probably did in concentrating on the sitting president of america was an assault on our constitutional democracy,” she added.
Reyes in contrast Littlejohn’s actions to different current assaults and threats towards elected officers in addition to to Jan. 6 defendants she has just lately sentenced. She described his actions as a deliberate, complicated, multiyear legal scheme, however mentioned she believed he “sincerely felt an ethical crucial” to behave as he did.
Littlejohn’s protection legal professional argued that he dedicated the offense “out of a deep, ethical perception that the American individuals had a proper to know the data and sharing it was the one approach to impact change” and believed he was proper on the time.
His protection legal professional argued that the 38-year-old, who grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, had dedicated “inexcusable” conduct that “breached the belief positioned in him by america authorities and violated the privateness of 1000’s of taxpayers” however {that a} “sturdy message of basic deterrence” had already been despatched to the general public.
Littlejohn briefly addressed the courtroom earlier than receiving his sentence, saying that he “acted out of a honest however misguided perception that I used to be serving the general public.”
Taxpayers deserved to understand how simple it was for the rich to keep away from paying into the system, Littlejohn added, saying he believes that Individuals make their greatest choices when correctly knowledgeable.
“I made my resolution with the complete information that I’d possible find yourself in a courtroom,” he mentioned.
