316
submitted 10 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

An IRS contractor pled guilty Thursday to leaking the private tax information of former President Donald Trump and thousands of other wealthy Americans to the news media.

Charles Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, D.C., faces a maximum of five years in prison, the Department of Justice said. Sentencing is slated for late January.

top 32 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 175 points 10 months ago

Free him and audit everyone

[-] gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world 70 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I think the paperwork to start that process is here - https://www.justice.gov/pardon/apply-pardon

Incidentally, they might try to bullshit their way out of a direct answer by saying some misinformation about how "there is a five-year waiting period before a person can apply for pardon," but just remind them that's not how it worked for Michael Flynn and a whole bunch of other people under the last administration. Whether or not this gets done comes down solely to the President's willingness to order it.

[-] gibmiser@lemmy.world 23 points 10 months ago

Find me the petition and I'll sign it

[-] Zoboomafoo@lemmy.world 20 points 10 months ago

Put me on the jury and I'll nullify it

[-] hackitfast@lemmy.world 139 points 10 months ago

The fact that this guy is going to jail by January but Trump isn't even close, means something is very wrong with our justice system.

[-] FireTower@lemmy.world 33 points 10 months ago

He took a plea deal so they don't have to spend time bringing the case to trial.

[-] ofcourse@lemmy.ml 65 points 10 months ago

He took the plea deal probably because he can’t afford a lengthy legal battle, decline to pay his lawyers, getting court dates shifted, appointing his own judge,… There is an entirely separate US justice system for the rich and powerful.

[-] FireTower@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

Or there might have been more than enough evidence to convict him but the prosecutor offered him a deal with less time served in exchange for making the process easier on the courts.

You can fight a case through trial but if you've got bad facts you've wasted your time and money (unless you've got a PD) plus might just end up serving a greater sentence.

That's not to say that having the capacity to afford serval attorneys on retainer isn't beneficial, just that there is such a thing as a good plea deal when you're stuck with bad facts.

[-] dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Or the cops told him that they had plenty of evidence to convict, scared him with a lengthy prison sentence, and he chose a plea deal because he viewed it as exactly that, a deal for a lesser punishment.

[-] cmbabul@lemmy.world 104 points 10 months ago

We should treat this man like the subway passengers treated Spider-Man after he saved their lives

[-] Illuminostro@lemmy.world 73 points 10 months ago

Guilty of being moral and ethical. Billionaires should not exist.

[-] Hello_there@kbin.social 64 points 10 months ago
[-] Alteon@lemmy.world 38 points 10 months ago

For real. I'll fund the fuck out of this dude. We need more people like him that are willing to do the right thing.

[-] VentraSqwal@links.dartboard.social 15 points 10 months ago

Seriously, I'll sign any petition or donate to any gofundme for this guy.

[-] magnetosphere@kbin.social 58 points 10 months ago

It’s only fair to give him the same punishment that one of those “wealthy Americans” would receive, right?

[-] scytale@lemm.ee 55 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)
[-] dingleberry@discuss.tchncs.de 41 points 10 months ago

That's called a whistleblower. You know those people you put behind bars.

[-] FabledAepitaph@lemmy.world 40 points 10 months ago

Jury nullification. Stand in solidarity.

[-] FabledAepitaph@lemmy.world 22 points 10 months ago

Although, if he plead guilty already, nm lol

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 38 points 10 months ago

A hero! Now that the news knows the information that the IRS has, time to push to properly audit them to pay their fair share.

[-] cyborganism@lemmy.ca 38 points 10 months ago

Fucking legend

[-] Gork@lemm.ee 31 points 10 months ago

The message is clear. Don't mess with rich people's money.

Everyone else? lol nah you'll just get audited.

[-] DeathWearsANecktie@lemm.ee 23 points 10 months ago

Chad move by the IRS consultant

[-] iMastari@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago

The hero we needed.

[-] d3lta19@lemmy.ca 11 points 10 months ago

I can't believe he backed up the info on an ipod. Didn't realize those still existed.

[-] Fedizen@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

If I were in the jury I would simply say this man did no crime.

[-] ganksy@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

Robinhood's right hand man!

[-] Whirling_Ashandarei@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

Littlejohn gonna do Littlejohn things! Ya love to see it.

[-] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

Unaware of how he evaded protections put in place by the IRS...

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

What protections?

[-] kevinbacon@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Is there a link to the records database?

this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2023
316 points (98.2% liked)

News

22488 readers
4270 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS