BREAKING: IRS Contractor Sentenced To Five Years In Prison After Leaking Trump Tax Records

On Monday, the former IRS contractor who leaked 45th President Donald Trump's tax returns was sentenced to five years in prison by U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes after he pleaded guilty to one count of disclosure of tax return and return information in October. The ex-IRS contractor, who sent the documents to The New York Times and Pro Publica, also leaked tax records for billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, as well as thousands of other Americans.

The leaker, Charles Littlejohn, was sentenced to the maximum sentence with Department of Justice prosecutors explaining that he "abused his position by unlawfully disclosing thousands of Americans' federal tax returns and other private financial information to multiple news organizations." They went on to explain that he "weaponized his access to unmasked taxpayer data to further his own personal, political agenda, believing that he was above the law."

District Judge Reyes explained to the defendant during the sentencing hearing that he was an "outstanding person" who committed "bad acts" in order to target President Trump in a prolonged criminal scheme that spanned several years. "You can be an outstanding person and commit bad acts," she said. "What you did in targeting the sitting president of the United States was an attack on our constitutional democracy,"

Following the privacy breach, the IRS took action to ensure such a leak couldn't occur again, with IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel explaining last year, "Any disclosure of taxpayer information is unacceptable. The IRS has put in place new protocols and protections that tightened security, and our aggressive work in this critical area continues in order to protect the tax and financial information of taxpayers."

According to NBC News, Littlejohn addressed the courtroom during his sentencing, "I made my decision with the full knowledge that I would likely end up in a courtroom."

This is a developing story and will be updated accordingly.

You can follow Sterling on X/Twitter here.