Did the former IRS contractor who leaked thousands of tax returns, including former President Donald Trump’s, get a sweetheart plea deal? That’s what House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, claims, and he’s looking into how the Justice Department decided to charge Charles Littlejohn with one count of disclosing tax return information without authorization.
Between August 2019 and August 2020, Littlejohn stole the tax returns of more than 7,600 people and leaked them to The New York Times and Propublica, which used them to collectively publish more than 50 articles.
The returns belonged to some of America’s wealthiest individuals, including then President Trump, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.
“The Department’s decision to pursue just one charge for ‘thousands’ of separate criminal acts is highly concerning, and we worry that the Department’s decision may be politically motivated,” Jordan wrote in a letter to Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri.
Jordan is now requesting all documents and communications related to the charging decision. The request applies to both internal communications at the Justice Department and those between the department and IRS employees.
“The scope and scale of Defendant’s unlawful disclosures appear to be unparalleled in the IRS’s history,” the government said in its sentencing memorandum for Littlejohn. “There simply is no precedent for a case involving the disclosure of tax return and return information associated with ‘over a thousand’ individuals and entities. . . . the human impact of Defendant’s crimes is enormous.”
Littlejohn received the maximum possible sentence of five years.
“The fact that he is facing one felony count, I have no words for,” the district judge said at the sentencing hearing, according to Jordan’s letter.
After the sentencing, the department put out a statement that appeared to indicate attorneys believed it was a just sentence.
“This sentence should serve as a warning to anyone who is considering emulating Mr. Littlejohn’s actions,” said Acting Inspector General Heather Hill of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). “TIGTA relentlessly investigates individuals who illicitly access and disclose taxpayer information, regardless of their personal motivation.”
Jordan said his investigation into this plea deal is in an effort to understand what he calls, “the department’s unusual and questionable leniency towards Mr. Littlejohn.”
Jordan wants the information by 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22.
