At the peak of the pandemic, a series of reports revealed that many of the richest Americans paid little in income taxes — and, in some years, nothing.
The 2021 stories by nonprofit news organization ProPublica were based on the actual tax returns of wealthy Americans ranging from George Soros and Elon Musk to then-Chicagoan Ken Griffin.
The stories illustrated how multibillionaires can keep more of their money out of government coffers legally by taking full advantage of deductions, credits and loopholes. They highlighted the unfairness of a system where top earners often pay far less than the average middle-class tax rate — a situation that is, in our view, un-American.
But how did ProPublica get the tax returns? Those documents are secret, and absolutely not available upon request to journalists curious about how much an individual might, or might not, be paying.
Enter Charles “Chaz” Littlejohn, a St. Louis native in his late 30s who was a consultant to the Internal Revenue Service, Treasury and other financial regulatory agencies. He’s nowhere near as famous as Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning or even the memorably named Reality Winner, but like them he got caught leaking sensitive government information to the media.
Littlejohn has reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors that includes a recommendation of eight to 14 months in prison, with his sentencing scheduled for Jan. 29.
The agreement describes how he pulled off his spectacular crime, and — spoiler alert...
On Friday, April 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has agreed to pay just over $17 million to resolve allegations that ...