This summary was submitted to the subreddit:
From the CNN article -
The man who stole and leaked former President Donald Trump and thousands of others’ 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.
“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.”
“It engenders the same fear that January 6 does,” Reyes added.
Prosecutors said Littlejohn went through great lengths to steal the tax records undetected, exploiting system loopholes, downloading data to an Apple iPod and uploading the information on a private website he later deleted.
Reyes was also critical of the Justice Department’s decision to only bring one count against Littlejohn.
“The fact that he did what he did and he’s facing one felony count, I have no words for,” the judge said. Prosecutors argued that the one count covers the multitude of Littlejohn’s thefts and leaks.
“A free press and public engagement with the media are critical to any healthy democracy, but stealing and leaking private, personal tax information strips individuals of the legal protection of their most sensitive data,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing recommending Littlejohn be sentenced to the maximum of five years in prison.
“I acted out of a sincere misguided belief,” Littlejohn said in court Monday, adding that he was serving the country and that people had a right to the tax information.
“We as a country make the best decisions when we are all properly informed,” Littlejohn said.
Littlejohn added that he was “aware of the potential consequences” of his actions and knew he would one day be here, in federal court, facing those consequences.
“My actions undermine the fragile faith,” in government institutions in the US, Littlejohn said.
If revealing the tax records of a president is equally as much a threat to your democracy as an armed mob storming the capitol, your democracy sucks. Well, either that or the judge is outrageously biased and should be fired immediately. Maybe both.
I mean, Donald Trump literally sold the Resolute Desk for ad space to Goya, and that hasn’t stopped his reelection bid any more than his recorded participation in treason.
I’m not sure our so-called democracy is accomplishing much.
Many people will never buy that product again.
I just looked into it. Sales went up after the ad+backlash. They expanded their TX factory soon after the boycott was called
Always worth remembering hard capitalists love/accept fascism because of how profitable it is
But yeah, I definitely don’t buy any of it and would tell family they shouldn’t if I saw them buying it
And sadly, it’s likely he’ll be reelected, in which case all of this surreal shit he’s done will be validated.
It’s generating wealth for people with inside access to the stock market. So that’s something
TBH, whenever someone tries to tell me I should donate to political candidates, I tell them to take that money and invest it instead. The big winner in all this, going on 40 years, is the stock market.
You may not have representation in government, but your investments do, 100%.
Wait. Is the only charge “stealing” tax records of president? In sane countries not publishing president’s tax and income records is crime. Even in not so sane Russia. Even for only candidates.
That judge is acting as if he stole the god damned constitution or something. He didn’t take anything of value, gain any kind of monetary reward, and didn’t do any damage to those he “stole” from.
This is all information we collectively pay for and should be public. If this is somehow damaging our democracy, to the extent that it’s equivalent to attempting to overthrow Congress… Fucking forbes should be in gitmo for their “richest people” articles.
The simple fact that they advertise their wealth, while simultaneously screaming treason about their tax records being released tells you all you really need to know about the American tax system. In a fair system we should be able to work out exactly how much tax everyone pays by their net worth, instead someone’s going to jail for lifting a corner of the veil that these rich fucks hide behind.
Forbes guesses. The rich certainly don’t like advertising the exact details.
You misunderstand: It is not threatening democracy, it is threatening what is called democracy in the US of A. Like nothing that is called AI is really AI.
This judge should be immediately fired. What a utter tool.
Does he get extra prison for further exposing the unfairness of the system by being imprisoned for this bullshit?
“You being in prison reminds me of the Jan 6 attackers being in prison, so I’ve added a few more years to your sentence.” -This dumb judge’s logic
Littlejohn took from the rich and gave to the poor.
c/NomitiveDeterminism
Technically the poor had it taken from them and he only returned
Arguably the same thing that happened in Robin Hood, so
First thing I thought of as well. I was like, no way this dude exposing rich people is named Little John. That’s excellent.
“We’re talking about someone who … pulled off the biggest heist in IRS history.”
I’d prefer we started talking about the super rich in this context. Plenty of bigger heists than this guy, in my view.
Yea, to compare this to what the scientologists did is just ridiculous. I hope the author is just ignorant rather than willfully ignoring it.
Did to individual IRS employees even! IIRC blackmail etc, in order to get tax free status as a “religion”
Sounds like we know who Judge Ana Reyes works for, and it ain’t us.
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name and shame 👇
Also she’s apparently Ana Reyes confirmed as first LGBTQ federal judge in D.C..
Besides this work, for more than a decade Ana has devoted significant time to her pro bono representations of asylum seekers and refugee organizations, including numerous appellate matters for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and impact litigation for Human Rights First,
Lmao, somehow I don’t believe this. It’s incredibly ironic that she helped people fearing bad government and now she is protecting bad government. What a dunce.
Also she was nominated by Biden which is the most perplexing fact:
Reyes’ Senate confirmation came nine months after Biden submitted her nomination in May 2022.
Biden is not on your side. He’s not on the evil side, so we should support him, but the enemy of your enemy is only your friend in battle.
Also being LGBTQ+ doesn’t make her reasonable or rational.
Any ambitious lawyer works on pro-bono cases for exposure and experience. I have no doubt she sincerely supports asylum seekers and refugee organizations, as she could have volunteered her services anywhere. Being on the right side of one issue doesn’t make her right about other issues.
We don’t have to guess where Ana Reyes stands, because she put her thoughts into words, her words into judgement, and we can see her judgement is fundamentally skewed away from justice.
“Today’s sentence sends a strong message that those who violate laws intended to protect sensitive tax information will face significant punishment.”
He revealed flaws in the system. He must be punished, lest the plebs find out how badly we’re fucking them.
Snowden award material. If Snowden award existed.
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There is a Gofundme for Charles Littlejohn’s legal defense fund and commissary. Its older updates also have his address at the penitentiary.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/charles-littlejohns-legal-defense-fund
May he never run short of honeybuns, ramen, and mackerel.
I’m torn… I want to donate, yet I feel like I’ll get “randomly” audited if I do…
He gets more time than most of the domestic terrorists that took part in an insurrection… That’s disgusting.
The rich have never been particularly concerned about fascism. They are however, deeply concerned about people knowing their financial details.
Meanwhile the biggest tax cheat runs for president in hopes of tearing down our democracy.
On the one hand, you have a violent insurrection, some of whom had the intent to assassinate multiple government leaders. On the other hand, a guy uploaded some dude’s tax returns.
Look up the case of Daniel Baker.
Tweeted that we should defend our country from insurrection on Jan 6. Got nearly 4 years and sentenced by May. Military vet.
The system moves fast and harshly when it needs or wants to.
Article. That’s wack
The system works as designed.
This is just class warfare
More the owner class straight up raping everyone and asking why they aren’t smiling
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Judge Ana Reyes needs to have her tax forms routinely shown to the public. If she believes a tax form should hold a secret, that means a secret line of finances and she believes in different rules for different types of people.
Honestly tax returns should just be public information anyway.
pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized disclosures of income tax returns
= 5 years prison.
Land of the free.
Weird take.
“Land of the free” doesn’t mean you are free to commit crimes. Even if the crime is against a complete shit bag.
I don’t agree with the sentencing but I really don’t see how your comment makes any sense for anyone that isn’t young and ignorant.
If someone stole your personal tax information and plastered it across the internet I doubt you’d have this take. Shit is still illegal and it doesn’t matter who the victim is even if they are a complete shit bag.
Five YEARS in prison for a white collar crime where he personally gained nothing from it. Many of the Jan 6 attackers are already scot-free and they tried to overthrow the fucking government.
Like I said I don’t agree with the sentencing but doing illegal shit has consequences. Whether he personally gained something from it doesn’t make any difference in the fact that he committed a crime.
Would you be ok with someone stealing your personal info and plastering it across the internet? How do we know your personal info or my personal info wasn’t leaked in the process?
Or are we saying that committing crimes is OK just as long as you don’t like the victim?
Both me and OP never argued that he should have no consequences at all. But five years in prison is banana republic level shit.
Don’t you guys (US) have an election coming up soon? This can definitely affect the outcome of that election. I kind of feel that 5 years is fairly light for unlawful disclosure of private information that affects the outcome of a major election.
I can definitely see the angle that he did it for a good reason, but I hope he understood the consequences when he decided to do it.
So then help explain “land of the free” comment.
Because to me that implies OP doesn’t understand what freedom actually means.
Shit take either way.
If this was the banana republic that person would have been executed. Yall live in a fucking bubble ffs.
I can see the connection somehow even if it’s a bit out there. I’m ok with people breaking the law when the law is unjust or made to protect those in power. Don’t defend the situation just because it’s the law because that’s the wrong take here.
There must be such a thing as freedom of information and if I’m not mistaken being a whistleblower would usually go against certain laws but it can be somewhat protected. What he’s done is on that gray area of whistleblowing and he shouldn’t be punished for it, even if it’s against the law. This has nothing to do with not liking the victim and you are just gaslighting the complaint of op.
Also, many countries have such thing as freedom of information about taxes paid by everyone, it’s not such a horrible thing to be open to anyone. It helps specially to avoid cases of corruption and so on.
The wrong take is thinking that breaking the law is OK just because you don’t like the victim. Smh
If you were the victim you’d be singing a different tune.
Sincerely I think you are missing the point (on purpose or not I don’t know and this will be my last answer to you on this topic). A law can be wrong, can be unjust, and breaking it wouldn’t be ethically wrong.
This dude from the post did what he did knowing he put himself at risk, and he is standing his own for it, acknowledging what he has done, not avoiding whatever may be the punishment. That doesn’t mean that the law is being used to protect anything other than the interest of rich people avoiding taxes. That’s the law he broke? Good then! That law shouldn’t exist! It’s not about who’s the victim, me or other. Yeah sure if I was avoiding paying taxes that’d probably mean I wouldn’t want to be caught either, that doesn’t make it right anyway…
No this is just you thinking that it’s OK because you don’t like the victim.
Are you OK with people leaking your tax returns across the internet? I doubt it.
If so send me your tax returns. You’ll never do it.
you’ve been duped by goose and gander logic. this is how sociopaths continue to get away with creating suffering.
Or are we saying that committing crimes is OK just as long as you don’t like the victim?
comitting crimes is ok if it’s in the service of humanity.
“Land of the free” doesn’t mean you are free to commit crimes. Even if the crime is against a complete shit bag.
What exactly was the crime? I mean, under which statute is “unauthorized exposure of tax returns” made illegal?
And why does it deserve jail?
Edit: This seems related
But it says nothing about publishing.
To your first question: 26 U.S. Code § 6103
🙄
chaotic good disagrees
Well I mean, this is breaking the law to expose broken aspects of a financial system, government and also possibly identify other criminals too. You can’t just represent this as “doing illegal shit”, it is like calling killing for self defense “illegal shit”. It is illegal yes and a very serious crime too but not “illegal shit”. In fact if someone who kills for self defense gets a longer prison sentence than someone who kills for fun because the latter person has some connections etc then it is probably the system who is doing some “illegal shit”. Strict adherence to the legal system and definitions only makes sense if it is not biased towards protecting the powerful but unfortunately it is.
