Charles Littlejohn: Man who stole and leaked Trump tax records sentenced to 5 years in prison | CNN Politics
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The man who stole and leaked former President Donald Trump and thousands of other’s tax records has been sentenced to five years in prison.

The man who stole and leaked former President Donald Trump and thousands of other’s tax records has been sentenced to five years in prison.

In October, Charles Littlejohn, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized disclosures of income tax returns. According to his plea agreement, he stole Trump’s tax returns along with the tax data of “thousands of the nation’s wealthiest people,” while working for a consulting firm with contracts with the Internal Revenue Service.

Littlejohn leaked the information to two news outlets and deleted the documents from his IRS-assigned laptop before returning it and covered the rest of his digital tracks by deleting places where he initially stored the information.

Judge Ana Reyes highlighted the gravity of the crime, saying multiple times that it amounted to an attack against the US and its legal foundation.

  • Hegar@kbin.social
    1141·
    10 months ago

    “your actions were also a threat to our democracy.”

    This is one of those exciting sentences where you have to substitute ‘democracy’ for ‘rich people’s yacht money’.

    • Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net
      52·
      9 months ago

      I disagree. As commendable as his actions are, he clearly broke a law that is there for a good reason.

      • Kiwi@lemmy.world
        3·
        9 months ago

        But how did it endanger democracy? Every president ever has willingly released the documents he leaked. How were his actions dangerous?

        • Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net
          11·
          9 months ago

          “Trust in the system” is a resource that needs managing. If the contractor got off lightly, it would erode the trust people have that the IRS will manage their information.

          Let alone the fact that a light sentence for a guy who leaked the administration’s foe’s information would be incredibly corrupt