President Donald Trump and his two eldest sons filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Treasury Department in federal court in Florida on Thursday (January 30), claiming the agencies failed to prevent an unauthorized leak of his tax returns during his first administration. The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of Florida, alleges that the leak caused major financial and reputational harm to President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization, which are all listed as plaintiffs.
The complaint centers on the actions of Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton. Littlejohn accessed and disclosed President Trump’s confidential tax records to media outlets including the New York Times, which published stories before the 2020 election revealing Trump’s financial losses and tax strategies.
Littlejohn pleaded guilty in 2023 to illegally accessing and sharing tax information, and was sentenced in 2024 to five years in prison. The unauthorized leaks also included tax details of other billionaires, such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.
The Trump family’s lawsuit argues the leaks led to “reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing.” The suit was filed personally by President Trump and his sons, not in his official capacity as president.
The Treasury Department recently cut ties with Booz Allen Hamilton, canceling contracts totaling $21 million after the incident, as detailed in the report.
The case has been assigned to Judge Kathleen Williams, an appointee of former President Barack Obama. It is now up to the IRS, the Treasury Department, and the Department of Justice to respond to the lawsuit. The outcome could set a historical precedent regarding government responsibility for data breaches by contractors, especially when sensitive information about public figures is involved.
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