That too IRS makes mistakes.
In a rare apology, the Internal Revenue Service issued a statement apologizing for “thousands” of publicly leaked tax documents between 2018 and 2020, including the data of billionaire and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, who was directly mentioned in the statement.
The apology is part of an agreement Griffin made with the IRS following a lawsuit he filed in December 2022 over the “unlawful disclosure” of his tax information that was leaked to the public by a contractor.
The IRS said the contractor, Charles Littlejohn, shared the information with the press and “violated” the terms of his employment. The agency added that Littlejohn “betrayed the trust” of Americans, including billionaire Elon Musk.
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“The IRS takes its responsibilities seriously and acknowledges that it failed to prevent Mr. Littlejohn's criminal conduct and the illegal disclosure of Mr. Griffin's confidential information,” the IRS said in a statement. “Accordingly, the IRS assures Mr. Griffin and the other victims of Mr. Littlejohn's actions that it has made significant investments in its data security to strengthen the protection of taxpayer information.”
Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of hedge fund Citadel LLC, speaks at the Milken Institute Global Conference (Apu Gomes/Getty Images)
Littlejohn was sentenced in January to five years in prison.
The IRS added that it was making “significant investments in its data security to strengthen the protection of taxpayer information.”
Griffin's net income is about $42 million and hit a record in 2022, when Citadel made the most money on record of any hedge fund in a given year. In 2023, Citadel's total revenue reached $74 billion.
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“I am grateful to my team for securing an outcome that will better protect the American taxpayer and ultimately benefit all Americans,” Griffin said. CBS MoneyWatch in a statement, regarding tax evasion.