IRS apologizes to billionaire Ken Griffin for leaking his tax data

The IRS issued a uncommon apology to billionaire investor Ken Griffin for releasing his tax data to the press, in addition to to different taxpayers whose data was breached, the tax company stated in a statement on Tuesday.

“The Internal Revenue Service sincerely apologizes to Mr. Kenneth Griffin and the 1000’s of different Americans whose private data was leaked to the press,” the IRS stated.

The apology stems from the case of a former IRS contractor named Charles Littlejohn, who was sentenced earlier this yr to 5 years in jail for unauthorized disclosure of tax returns. Littlejohn had supplied tax return data for Griffin and different rich Americans to nonprofit information group ProPublica. 

In a press release to CBS MoneyWatch, Griffin stated, “I’m grateful to my group for securing an end result that can higher defend American taxpayers and that can finally profit all Americans.” 

Beginning in 2021, ProPublica printed a collection known as “The Secret IRS Files,” which included the main points of tax returns for 1000’s of wealthy taxpayers, together with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk. The protection explored how among the wealthiest Americans decrease their taxes.

Littlejohn “violated the phrases of his contract and betrayed the belief that the American individuals place within the IRS to safeguard their delicate data,” the company stated in Tuesday’s assertion. “The IRS takes its duties significantly and acknowledges that it failed to forestall Mr. Littlejohn’s prison conduct and illegal disclosure of Mr. Griffin’s confidential information.”

Griffin, the founding father of the hedge fund Citadel, is value virtually $42 billion, making him the world’s thirty fourth richest particular person, in accordance with the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The IRS’ apology comes after Griffin on Monday dropped a lawsuit in opposition to the company and the U.S. Treasury Department that he had filed in December over the breach. 

ProPublica did not instantly reply to a request for remark. 

The IRS stated it has made “substantial investments in its information safety to strengthen its safeguarding of taxpayer data.”

It added, “The company believes that its actions and the decision of this case will lead to a stronger and extra reliable course of for safeguarding the non-public data of all taxpayers.”