The theft and leaking of Donald Trump’s taxes led to Pulitzer Prize-winning news coverage by the New York Times and, later, revelations into how America’s richest citizens avoid paying taxes.
While Trump steadfastly refuses to release his tax returns — bucking a presidential election tradition that stretches back to Richard Nixon in the 1970s — the consequences of the 2020 leak continue to play out for St. Louis native Charles “Chaz” Littlejohn.
After pleading guilty to a single criminal count last year, Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton, began serving a five-year sentence in federal prison in May.
“In this case, there was no debate whether what he did was illegal,” said St. Louis Magazine senior editor Nick Phillips, who profiled Littlejohn in the magazine’s latest issue.
Through information gleaned from court records and other sources, Phillips’ story paints a complicated portrait of Littlejohn, who acknowledged his actions during his sentencing and described his motivations as “a sincere, if misguided, belief that I was serving the public interest.”
Phillips said that he found no evidence pointing to Littlejohn as an anti-Trump or anti-Republican extremist before he set his plan in motion. At the same time, the leak of Trump’s tax records had undeniable political impact.
“I'll be honest: When I first glanced at [Littlejohn’s story], I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be about partisanship gone awry, somebody who got caught up in tribal point-scoring that led him to do something illegal,’” Phillips said on St. Louis on the Air.
He continued: “I think certainly people on the political right construed it that way. And I think some people on the political left really thought that he was a hero for hurting Trump and revealing how the ultra wealthy deal with their taxes. But then another story emerges from the court documents … that he was, according to those who know and love him, maybe more of a misguided idealist who had this really high-minded desire to put information before the public. And I think he knew he was going to go to prison.”
To hear more from Nick Phillips about his reporting on the life Chaz Littlejohn, and what happened after Littlejohn leaked Donald Trump’s tax history, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
