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, lost an appeal of his five-year prison sentence. 

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied Littlejohn’s arguments, which included that U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes had predetermined her decision when she gave him the maximum sentence. 

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

“Littlejohn’s sentence was procedurally reasonable,” Judge Justin Walker wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel on Friday in a 16-page opinion. “And it was substantively reasonable.”

Littlejohn’s leaks sparked legal complaints by victims who sued the IRS and Booz Allen, but Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS demanding $10 billion provoked an intense political outcry. 

On May 18, the president said he was dropping the suit in exchange for the government creating a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, which Democrats said would enrich his allies and supporters, including Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rioters. The fund was discarded amid bipartisan political opposition. The settlement also purported to immunize Trump, his family members and business interests from audits or other federal probes related to past filings.

In their appellate ruling on Friday, the judges said Littlejohn offered “weak” evidence that Reyes had her mind made up when she sentenced him in January 2024. While Reyes repeatedly pressed prosecutors on why they charged only one felony and not more, “that is hardly evidence of a predetermined sentence,” according to the opinion. 

The panel also found that Reyes didn’t rely on “clearly erroneous factual findings.” Littlejohn, for instance, argued that his sentence hinged on a “mistaken belief” that his actions were politically motivated. 

The panel, however, concluded that Littlejohn was prompted by a desire to change tax policy and influence voters about a sitting president before the election. 

Walker, appointed to the court by Trump during his first term, was joined in the decision by Judges Neomi Rao — another Trump nominee — and Judith Rogers, a Bill Clinton appointee.

Littlejohn did not appeal his conviction.  

Littlejohn, 41, is serving his sentence at a medium-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 was a “bad faith” attempt to manipulate the judicial process and barred him and his administration from citing the settlement in any future regulatory or judicial proceedings.