Former President Donald Trump has initiated legal action against the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury Department, asking a federal court in Florida to award $10 billion in damages over what the complaint calls the unlawful disclosure of his tax return information.
The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, contends that the two agencies failed to maintain adequate safeguards to protect confidential tax records. According to the filing, those failures permitted a former IRS contractor to unlawfully obtain and then leak tax return information to media organizations, specifically naming the New York Times and ProPublica.
Trump is bringing the suit jointly with his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and with the Trump Organization. The plaintiffs assert that the disclosures inflicted substantial reputational and financial harm.
The complaint sets out allegations of negligence and willful misconduct by the IRS and the Treasury, pointing to repeated lapses in internal data security and oversight as the basis for the claims. It seeks statutory, compensatory, and punitive damages, arguing that the scope of the disclosures and the number of affected parties justify a multibillion-dollar award.
This litigation traces back to the actions of Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor who in 2023 pleaded guilty to unlawfully disclosing tax return information belonging to Trump and other wealthy individuals. Littlejohn was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison.
The suit frames the matter as one of institutional accountability for protecting sensitive taxpayer information, asserting that failures by the agencies entrusted with those duties directly enabled the unauthorized disclosures.
Case background
- The complaint alleges systemic failures in data controls and supervision at the IRS and Treasury.
- Named recipients of the leaked information in the filing include the New York Times and ProPublica.
- The underlying criminal conduct involved Charles Littlejohn, who pleaded guilty in 2023 and received a five-year prison sentence.
Claims and requested relief
The plaintiffs are pursuing statutory remedies as well as compensatory and punitive damages. The filing argues that the magnitude of the alleged breach and the number of parties affected support a multibillion-dollar claim. The complaint accuses the agencies of negligence and willful misconduct tied to repeated deficiencies in internal security and oversight.
What is unresolved
The filing itself presents allegations and a damages demand; the federal court in Florida will determine how the claims proceed and whether the requested relief is warranted under the law. The suit follows the criminal case against the contractor responsible for the disclosures, but civil liability, damages, and agency responsibility remain matters for the civil court to adjudicate.