Trump Sues IRS and Treasury for $10bn Leak Case Today
30th Jan. 2026
US President Donald Trump and his two sons have filed a $10bn (£7.25bn) civil lawsuit against the federal government. He accused them of failing to protect their confidential tax records from unlawful disclosure. The complaint was lodged in Miami federal court. It targets the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Treasury Department over leaks by a former IRS contractor.
According to the filing, the Trump family argues that the federal agencies breached their legal duty to safeguard sensitive taxpayer information. They said that their highly personal financial data was exposed to the public. As a result, it caused reputational damage, financial harm, and widespread embarrassment for Trump and his family.
The lawsuit follows the conviction of Charles “Chaz” Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for leaking tax data belonging to Trump and thousands of wealthy Americans. During that period, the stolen information was also shared with media organizations, including The New York Times and ProPublica.
IRS and Treasury Accused of Failing to Protect Tax Data
At the center of the lawsuit is the assertion that both the IRS and the Treasury Department “had a duty to safeguard and protect” confidential tax disclosures. However, the filing argues that the agencies failed to implement adequate protections. Consequently, the Trump family alleges that Littlejohn was able to access that data, and he only distributed the sensitive information without detection.
Trump, alongside his sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, as well as the Trump Organization, argues that the disclosures have “unfairly tarnished” their business reputations. Moreover, the complaint states that the reporting portrayed them in a false light and negatively affected their public standing.
Littlejohn was pleaded guilty in 2023 to stealing taxpayer data while working as a contractor for the IRS. In 2024, a federal judge sentenced him to five years in prison. Prosecutors said that he exploited his authorized access to “unmasked taxpayer data” to further what the lawsuit describes as his “personal, political agenda”.
The complaint also highlights statements that Littlejohn made during legal proceedings. It says that he viewed Trump as “dangerous” and a “threat to democracy”. He believed that disclosure of the report was justified under political “norms”. When asked in a deposition whether he intended to harm Trump, Littlejohn responded: “Less about harm, more just about a statement”.
Public and Political Scrutiny Over Trump’s Tax Records
Trump’s tax records have long been a subject of intense public and political scrutiny. Ahead of both the 2016 presidential election and his 2020 re-election campaign, Trump refused to release his tax returns, by citing that it is under ongoing audit. In doing so, he became the first major-party presidential candidate in nearly 50 years to break with the established norm of disclosure.
However, in September 2020, weeks before the election, a leading news site published an investigation into Trump’s tax filings. The report revealed that he paid just $750 in federal income taxes in the year he won the presidency. The report further mentioned that he did not pay federal income tax in 10 of the previous 15 years.
Two years later, in 2022, Trump released his tax returns himself. That same year, after he had left office, Congress published six years of his tax records, which showed that he paid a very little federal income tax during two of his four years as president.
Political and Legal Fallout from Trump Tax Leak Lawsuit
The lawsuit comes amid broader tensions between Trump and federal institutions. In October, Trump reportedly demanded $230m in compensation from the Department of Justice over multiple federal investigations into him. At the time, he remarked, “I guess they probably owe me a lot of money”.
Notably, the legal action was filed just days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent canceled all departmental contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton. Hamilton was the consulting firm that employed Littlejohn. Bessent said that the company “failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data”. The data includes confidential taxpayer information that is accessible through IRS contracts.
While Trump resigned from his namesake company in 2017 before taking office, the fallout from his tax disclosures continues to reverberate. Now, through this lawsuit, the Trump family is seeking accountability and substantial damages from the federal government. According to them, the government had failed to protect their most sensitive financial information.
Web Resources on the Trump Sues IRS and Treasury Department
1. Politico.com: Trump sues IRS for $10B over leaked tax returns
2. ABCNews.com: Trump sues IRS, Treasury for $10 billion over tax returns leak
3. NewYorkTimes.com: Trump Sues I.R.S. over Tax Data Leak
4. CNN.com: Trump sues IRS and Treasury Department for $10 billion over tax return leak