The person accused of releasing Donald Trump's tax returns

 The person accused of releasing Donald Trump's tax returns

According to reports, Donald Trump is the "high-ranking government official" whose tax returns were leaked by a man in the US.

According to the prosecution, Charles Littlejohn, a contractor for the IRS, the federal tax agency of the United States, stole the data and sent it to a news organization.

Additionally, he is charged with obtaining the tax return data of "thousands" of the "wealthiest individuals" in the US.

According to the Department of Justice, this information was provided to another publication.

According to court records, "numerous articles" based on this material were published by the two news organizations.

Both have not been accused of any misconduct.

Although the government figure is not identified in the court records, a source has told the BBC's US partner, CBS News, that it is former president Donald Trump.

The New York Times was the news organization that obtained information about Mr. Trump's tax returns, according to the same source. The ProPublica website was the second news organization to acquire information about other people.

ProPublica said in a statement to CBS News: "We have no comment on today's news from the DoJ. The New York Times declined to comment to the outlet regarding the assertions. ProPublica does not know the identity of the source who gave this abundance of data on the taxes paid by the wealthiest Americans, as we have previously stated.

Mr. Trump hasn't made any comments in the media.

According to court records, Mr. Littlejohn allegedly worked between 2017 and 2021 for an undisclosed consultant that in turn handled tax administration contracts for the US Department of the Treasury's IRS.

In addition, the documents claim that between 2018 and 2020, while Mr. Littlejohn was employed by the IRS on a contract, "he stole tax returns and return information," some of which dated back more than 15 years.

The unlawful sharing of tax returns and return information is the accusation leveled against Mr. Littlejohn. He might spend up to five years in prison if found guilty. The inhabitant of Washington, DC, has not made any public remarks.

Trump allegedly paid barely $750 (£580) in federal income tax both in 2016, the year he sought for the US presidency, and in the first year he served in the White House, according to a 2020 New York Times piece that was allegedly based on the leaked information.

The publication further claimed that he had not paid any income taxes for 10 out of the preceding 15 years, and that data showed "years of tax avoidance" and "chronic losses."