Trump tax leaker Littlejohn loses appeal of prison sentence

Charles Littlejohn, the former Internal Revenue Service contractor who leaked tax information about President Donald Trump and thousands of other wealthy Americans, has lost an appeal against his five-year prison sentence.

Administrative Matters

US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit deny Littlejohn’s arguments, including that U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes made her decision when she sentenced him to prison.

Littlejohn, a former Booz Allen Hamilton employee who pleaded guilty, stole Trump’s tax returns from the IRS and leaked them to the New York Times before the 2020 election. He also stole the tax returns of billionaires like Ken Griffin and Elon Musk, as well as thousands of other wealthy Americans, and leaked them to ProPublica.

“Littlejohn’s sentencing was reasonable in scope,” Judge Justin Walker wrote for the three-judge panel Friday in a 16-page opinion. “And it was very reasonable.”

Littlejohn’s leaks led to legal complaints from victims who sued the IRS and Booz Allen, but Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS created a political outcry.

On May 18, the president said he was abandoning the lawsuit to require the administration to provide a $1.8 billion “arms protection” fund, which Democrats say will enrich his friends and supporters, including the January 6, 2021, Capitol rioters. The fund was abandoned amid two political conflicts. The settlement also purported to immunize Trump, his family and business interests from investigations or other federal investigations related to past records.

In their appeal decision Friday, the jury said Littlejohn presented “weak” evidence that Reyes made a decision when she sentence him in January 2024. While Reyes repeatedly pressed the prosecutors on why they charged only one crime but not more, “this is not a sign of a foregone conclusion,” according to the opinion.

The panel also found that Reyes did not rely on a “clearly erroneous factual analysis.” Littlejohn, for example, argued that his conviction was based on a “disbelief” that his actions were politically motivated.

The committee, however, concluded that Littlejohn made him interested in changing tax policy and influencing voters about the sitting president before the election.

Walker, who was appointed to the court by Trump during his first term, was joined by judges Neomi Rao – another Trump nominee – and Judith Rogers, who was appointed by Bill Clinton.

Littlejohn did not appeal his conviction.

Littlejohn, 41, is serving his sentence at a security facility in Marion, Illinois, according to the Bureau of Prisons website.

In Trump’s case against the IRS, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled on July 13 that the president’s lawsuit “unbelief“trying to use the legal system and prevent him and his government from talking about reconciliation in any future case or trial.