Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (Michigan), David Gamage (Missouri), Goldburn P. Maynard Jr. (Indiana-Kelley, moving to Connecticut), and Alex Zhang (Emory) have sent this letter to President Biden:

We are tax law professors who are writing to urge you to commute the sentence of Mr. Charles Littlejohn, who is serving a five-year prison sentence for unauthorized disclosure of tax information, to the maximum sentence he was supposed to receive under the federal sentencing guidelines, namely ten months. Mr. Littlejohn worked at the IRS as a government contractor. Out of a sincere belief in the public`s right to know, Mr. Littlejohn in 2019 and 2020 leaked tax return information of President Trump and some of the wealthiest individual taxpayers in the US to the New York Times and to ProPublica, who published articles based on this information. 

Common Dreams, New Campaign Urges Biden to Commute Sentence of 'Public Hero' Who Leaked Trump Tax Data:

Patriotic Millionaires and Revolving Door Project are leading the push for Biden to reduce IRS whistleblower Charles Littlejohn's prison term.

Rolling Stone, Biden Must Free the Man Who Exposed Trump’s Tax Avoidance:

Joe Biden must commute the sentence of Charles Littlejohn, the IRS whistleblower who leaked Donald Trump’s tax records, before Trump can get revenge

Charles Littlejohn opened America’s eyes to the massive scale of tax avoidance by the ultra-rich.

Today, together with @revolvingdoorDC, we launched a letter campaign calling on President Biden to commute his prison sentence.

Join the fight at https://t.co/8horz5goul pic.twitter.com/M8ijl2XZvT

— Patriotic Millionaires (@PatrioticMills) December 17, 2024

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage

• DOJ: IRS Consultant Charged With Disclosing Tax Return Information To New York Times (Trump) And ProPublica (Thousands Of Wealthy Americans) (Sept. 30, 2023)
• WSJ: DOJ Offers Sweetheart Plea Deal To IRS Consultant Who Leaked Tax Return Information Of Trump And Thousands Of Wealthy Americans (Oct. 24, 2023)
• NY Times: Former Contractor Who Leaked Trump’s Tax Returns Sentenced To 5 Years In Prison (Jan. 31, 2024)
• Avi-Yonah: Littlejohn’s Unjust Tax Sentence (June 11, 2024)
• NY Times: IRS ‘Sincerely Apologizes To Ken Griffin And Thousands Of Other Taxpayers Whose Personal Information Was Leaked To The Press’ (June 27, 2024)

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