A former US tax worker has pleaded guilty to the unauthorised disclosure of ex-president Donald Trump's personal tax records to news organisations.
As a contractor for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the national tax agency of the United States, Charles Littlejohn stole the personal and financial information of thousands of wealthy Americans.
The legal team that is representing Mr. Trump vehemently objected to the idea of entering into a plea deal and insisted that Littlejohn serve the maximum potential sentence.
It is feasible that he might spend anywhere from one to five years in jail as a result of his actions.
A month ago, Littlejohn was arrested on suspicion of leaking tax documents, including those belonging to Mr. Trump and other wealthy Americans.
The month of January is reserved for the delivery of his sentence. On Thursday in court, he entered a guilty plea to one count of disclosing information from a tax return.
When asked by the court to identify whose information he divulged, he responded, "Donald J. Trump," according to sources. In addition, he also stated that he provided information about Trump's tax returns to the two different worldwide sources.
There are no allegations of malfeasance against either organisation. In court, President Joe Biden's appointee, Judge Ana Reyes, told the defendant that she cannot overstate how troubled she is by what transpired. "There is no doubt that this was unacceptable."
The judge mentioned that when people take the law into their own hands for whatever purpose, society does not function properly.
Alina Habba, Mr. Trump's attorney stated that her client opposed any plea bargain and demanded that Littlejohn receive the utmost sentence.
She stated that the "egregious breach" may have cost Mr. Trump votes in the 2020 election and described Littlejohn's behaviour as “atrocious."
When Mr. Trump was running for president in 2016, he broke a contemporary American political tradition by refusing to reveal his tax returns.
This was during his campaign for the White House. As a result of the data being leaked, it was revealed that Mr. Trump paid an astonishingly small amount in taxes.
In an article published in 2020, which is considered to have been based on the information that was stolen, it was stated that Mr. Trump paid just $750 (£580) in federal income tax both in 2016, the year that he ran for the US presidency, and in his first year in the White House.
This information was allegedly based on the information that was stolen.
In addition to this, the newspaper said that he had not paid any income taxes at all for ten of the preceding fifteen years and that the documents demonstrate "chronic losses and years of tax dodging."
Littlejohn stole the tax information of a number of Americans, including Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, amongst others.
It was mentioned that because there are so many victims, the court aims to build up a website in order to keep them informed on progress in the case.
The database will contain information about the case.
