The Inner Income Service issued a uncommon apology to billionaire investor Ken Griffin over the leak of his tax returns to the press.
The apology follows the Monday settlement of a lawsuit the Citadel CEO filed towards the IRS in 2022, alleging that an worker on the company illegally leaked his tax returns to the information website ProPublica.
In 2021, ProPublica additionally printed different billionaires’ tax info, together with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and actual property mogul Stephen Ross, in a 2021 collection known as “The Secret IRS Information.”
The apology is a part of a settlement to a lawsuit filed towards the IRS in 2022 by Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin, alleging that an worker on the company illegally leaked his tax returns to the information website ProPublica. AFP by way of Getty Pictures
The IRS worker in query — authorities contractor Charles Littlejohn — additionally leaked the confidential tax returns of hundreds of different rich People to the New York Occasions.
The previous authorities contractor was sentenced to 5 years in jail in January after he pleaded responsible to unauthorized disclosure of tax returns.
“The IRS takes its duties critically and acknowledges that it failed to stop Mr. Littlejohn’s prison conduct and illegal disclosure of Mr. Griffin’s confidential information,” the IRS stated in a press release.
“Accordingly, the IRS assures Mr. Griffin and the opposite victims of Mr. Littlejohn’s actions that it has made substantial investments in its information safety to strengthen its safeguarding of taxpayer info.”
Littlejohn accessed the tax information via an IRS database and uploaded it to a non-public web site to keep away from the company barrier stopping massive downloads. He handed former president Donald Trump’s tax info to the New York Occasions and handed others’ info, together with Griffin’s, to ProPublica.
“He violated the phrases of his contract and betrayed the belief that the American folks place within the IRS to safeguard their delicate info,” the IRS stated in a press release.
Charles Littlejohn accessed the tax information via an IRS database and uploaded it to a non-public web site to keep away from the company barrier stopping massive downloads. MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
ProPublica printed different billionaires’ tax info as properly, together with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and actual property mogul Stephen Ross. Griffin and Bezos in Miami final 12 months. Getty Pictures for American Categorical Presents Carbone Seashore
The billionaire’s lawyer, William A. Burck of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, stated the lawsuit got here after years of stonewalling.
“Though the IRS has acknowledged its failures, apologized to the hundreds of People who had been victimized, and has promised to guard taxpayer info sooner or later, it is vital that each one of us maintain it accountable to fulfill that promise,” Burck informed the Submit in a press release.
“I’m grateful to my staff for securing an consequence that can higher shield American taxpayers and that can finally profit all People,” Griffin stated in a press release to a number of information retailers, together with CBS and FOX, Tuesday.