(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The IRS contractor who pleaded guilty to leaking President Donald Trump’s tax returns also disclosed information on more than 405,000 filers—far exceeding the 70,000 figure initially admitted by the federal tax agency.
The IRS made the shocking admission on Feb. 14 in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, which launched an investigation into the agency in 2024 after federal contractor Charles Edward Littlejohn stole private tax information and leaked it to leftist media outlets.
The IRS said that internal data from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration showed that it had mailed “notifications” to 405,427 taxpayers whose information was illegally leaked or accessed by Littlejohn.
The IRS also claimed that approximately 89 percent of the leaked data belongs to business entities but failed to explain why it underestimated the total number of affected individuals and entities in 2024.
“This is a massive scandal,” the House Judiciary Committee wrote Tuesday on X, garnering more than 5 million views.
🚨 #BREAKING: New disclosure reveals that the Biden IRS leaked taxpayer information of over 405,000 Americans — including President Trump's.
The IRS’s admission confirms the Committee’s suspicion and recent reports that show the scope of the leak was much broader than what the… pic.twitter.com/3KKYL5bHET
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) February 25, 2025
Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in federal prison after he was busted illegally accessing and stealing information from thousands of the nation’s wealthiest taxpayers and companies—including Trump. Littlejohn’s theft occurred between 2019 and 2020.
Federal prosecutors scolded Littlejohn for the breach, saying he violated his obligation to safeguard sensitive taxpayers’ information.
“Today’s sentence sends a strong message that those who violate laws intended to protect sensitive tax information will face significant punishment,” said Nicole M. Argentieri, an acting assistant attorney general, in a statement.
Leftist outlets such as ProPublica published nearly 50 articles using or referencing Littlejohn’s leaks, according to the law firm Morgan Lewis.
In 2019, ProPublica accused Trump of making his businesses look less profitable to tax officials in an alleged bid to lower his tax liability. This, the outlet claimed, suggested his tax filings were fraudulent.
Other affected individuals include tech billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, all of whom ProPublica misleadingly accused of paying little to no federal taxes.
The outlet alleged that between 2014 and 2018, Bezos made $4.22 billion in income and paid $973 million in taxes (23 percent), though it claimed his tax obligations amounted to only 0.98 percent of his total net worth of $24.3 billion.
Musk paid $455 million on income of $1.52 billion, or 29.93 percent, though ProPublica claimed this amounted to just 3.27 percent of his $13.9 billion net worth.
ProPublica obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing.
(Pub. 2021)https://t.co/QQuIsXAMg0
— ProPublica (@propublica) January 31, 2025
