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.

  • doricub@lemmy.world
    41·
    10 months ago

    I mean, in the eyes of the judge and the lawyers, the crime was premeditated, covered up, and the defendant is remorseless. Pretty clear grounds to give the maximum penalty allowed by law.

    I believe the tax records for large corporations and the upper class should fax higher scrutiny without having to be publicly leaked.

    • LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
      4·
      10 months ago

      No the judge was far more extreme then that:

      “What you did in attacking the sitting president of the United States was an attack on our constitutional democracy,” Reyes said. “We’re talking about someone who … pulled off the biggest heist in IRS history.” The judge compared Littlejohn’s actions to those of the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, noting that, “your actions were also a threat to our democracy.” “The fact that he did what he did and he’s facing one felony count, I have no words for,”

      She practically admitted that her thinking was politically motivated. And that even though democracy in the US was and still is in danger and wealth inequality severely undermines the democratic vote of citizens, there is absolutely no excuse to resist against tyranny using illegal means. She’s not a fascist, but she’d make an excellent nazi. Yes Godwin’s law but that is how that worked. If Trump wins again democracy in the US could literally end but she sees no morally justifiable reason to resist.

      PS: Or she just doesn’t understand that extreme wealth inequality and rise of fascism are linked, and you cannot fight the one without fighting the other.

    • AutistoMephisto@lemmy.world
      2·
      10 months ago

      True, however, power concedes nothing without a demand. The only thing the powerful fear is losing that power. You can call for higher scrutiny of the upper class and corporations all you like, but they won’t do it unless forced to. And they’re also the ones who write national policy, so good luck writing a law to force them to do anything. It will be shoved into a shredder the second it enters the DC city limits.