Man Who Leaked Trump’s Taxes Revealed After Exposing Musk and Bezos, WSJ Reports

Introduction

The man responsible for leaking Donald Trump's tax returns managed to evade federal investigators for quite some time. However, his identity was finally uncovered when he leaked information about Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, according to an article by The Wall Street Journal.

The Leaker's Confession

Charles Littlejohn, an IRS contractor, eventually confessed to leaking Donald Trump's tax returns. Surprisingly, federal investigators were not initially aware that he was the leaker, as revealed by The Wall Street Journal.

Focus on Littlejohn

The investigators had been focusing on Littlejohn for a separate leak involving billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. It was during this investigation that they discovered his involvement in the leak of Trump's tax returns.

Evading Investigators

According to The Wall Street Journal, the man who leaked Trump's tax returns managed to evade federal investigators for a significant period of time. It was only when he was suspected of another leak involving the financial information of wealthy individuals that he was finally caught.

Littlejohn's Guilty Plea

Charles Littlejohn pleaded guilty in October to one count of unauthorized access to tax return information. He provided tax documents belonging to Trump, Bezos, and Musk to two different news organizations on separate occasions.

Trump's Tax Returns

In 2019, Littlejohn initially provided The New York Times with 20 years' worth of Donald Trump's tax returns. The news organization published a story about them in September 2020.

Technical Skills and Investigation

The Journal reported that federal investigators faced difficulties in their efforts to determine how the tax returns ended up in the hands of reporters. Littlejohn's technical skills played a role in this challenge. Investigators were uncertain whether the leak originated from within the government or from an external source with access to the documents.

Investigation Shift

The investigation into the leak of Trump's tax returns was put on hold due to insufficient information. However, investigators turned their attention to a separate incident involving ProPublica, which published numerous articles in 2021 about the tax returns of wealthy individuals like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

Internal Leak Suspicions

The amount of information received by ProPublica led investigators to suspect an internal leak within the IRS. It was at this point that they began reviewing employee and contractor search data for any unusual queries that did not align with their assigned job descriptions.

Breakthrough and Focus on Littlejohn

Although initial searches did not yield results, investigators eventually made a breakthrough in their pursuit and turned their attention to Charles Littlejohn. The contractor confessed to leaking the data provided to ProPublica, as well as to The New York Times.

Sentencing and Punishment

Littlejohn is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday for unauthorized access to tax return information. The statute of limitations had expired for the 2019 leak of Trump's tax returns. Republican lawmakers, angered by the leaks, are calling for a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Prosecutors are also seeking the maximum penalty. Littlejohn's attorneys argue that such a sentence would be extremely harsh.

The Impact of the Leaks

The revelations made through the leaks have had significant implications. The reports based on Littlejohn's leaks, published by The New York Times and ProPublica, exposed how wealthy Americans received substantial tax breaks and found ways to bypass regulations for financial gain.

Trump's Tax Payments

Trump's tax returns revealed that he paid only $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017. Bezos's returns showed that he paid nothing in federal income taxes in 2007 and 2011. Musk's tax returns indicated that he paid $455 million in taxes on an income of $1.52 billion between 2014 and 2018.

Scrutiny of the Ultrawealthy

The financial activities of ultrawealthy individuals have long been under intense scrutiny. However, few public figures have garnered as much attention as former President Trump, who is currently facing an investigation related to his New York business fraud case.

Allegations of Tax Evasion

A letter written by former federal judge Barbara Jones, the court-appointed special monitor overseeing the fraud case, suggests that Trump may have engaged in substantial tax evasion. The letter implies that Trump claimed to owe over $48 million in debt to one of his companies, but there is no evidence to support the existence of such a loan.

Original article: Business Insider

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By: hgetahun@insider.com (Hannah Getahun,Katherine Tangalakis Lippert)
Title: Man Who Leaked Trump’s Taxes Revealed After Exposing Musk and Bezos, WSJ Reports
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-elon-musk-tax-leak-led-investigators-trump-wsj-2024-1
Published Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2024 23:09:38 +0000