A United States Internal Revenue Service contractor suspected of leaking former President Donald Trump’s tax returns to the media pleaded guilty on Thursday to unlawfully disclosing tax information.
Charles Littlejohn, 38, faces a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison at sentencing on 29 January, the Justice Department said in a statement.
The New York Times reported in September 2020 that Trump, who has refused to make his tax returns public, paid only $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017, and none at all for 10 of the previous 15 years.
Littlejohn was also accused of leaking the tax information of thousands of the wealthiest individuals in the US to another unidentified news outlet.
That outlet is believed to be ProPublica, a nonprofit journalism organization which published extensive reports in June 2021 based on the tax information.
“By using his role as a government contractor to gain access to private tax information, steal that information, and disclose it publicly, Charles Littlejohn broke federal law and betrayed the public’s trust,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.