US Treasury Department ends contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton after Trump tax leak

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department cut contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton after a former contractor who worked for the firm was indicted and subsequently jailed for leaking tax information on thousands of the nation’s richest people to news organizations, including President Donald Trump.

The latest move is in line with the Trump administration’s efforts to seek revenge against perceived enemies of the president and his allies.

In 2024, Charles Edward Littlejohn of Washington, D.C., a former IRS contractor who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to leaking tax information about Trump and others to news outlets.

Prosecutors said Littlejohn gave The New York Times and ProPublica data about leaks between 2018 and 2020 that were “unprecedented in the history of the IRS.”

In court documents, prosecutors said Littlejohn applied to work as a contractor to obtain Trump’s tax returns and carefully figured out how to search and extract the tax data to avoid triggering suspicions within the company.

The agency has 31 contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton totaling $4.8 million in annual expenses and $21 million in total liabilities, Treasury said.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that the firm “failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data, including confidential taxpayer information it accessed through contracts with the Internal Revenue Service.”

Booz Allen spokesman Brian P. Hale said the company has consistently condemned Littlejohn’s actions and has zero tolerance for violations of the law.

“Booz Allen fully supported the U.S. government in its investigation, and the government expressed its gratitude for our assistance leading to Littlejohn’s prosecution,” Hale said. “We look forward to continuing discussions with the Undersecretariat of Treasury on this issue.”

Booz Allen says it does not store taxpayer data on its systems and has no ability to monitor activity on government networks.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to the text.