Trump family sues U.S. government for $10bn over tax leaks

US President Donald Trump and his two sons have filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Treasury Department, accusing federal authorities of failing to prevent leaks of their confidential tax returns.

The civil complaint, filed in Miami federal court, claims the IRS and Treasury “had a duty to safeguard and protect” private financial information but “failed to take such mandatory precautions,” allowing the disclosure of sensitive data by a former IRS contractor.

The contractor, Charles “Chaz” Littlejohn, pleaded guilty in 2023 to stealing tax information from Trump and thousands of other wealthy Americans. In 2024, he was sentenced to five years in prison.

The lawsuit alleges that Littlejohn weaponised access to the data to further a personal and political agenda, believing President Trump was “dangerous” and a “threat to democracy,” according to court documents.

Trump, along with Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and the Trump Organisation, claim they suffered reputational and financial harm after leaks to The New York Times and ProPublica. The filings argue that the disclosures “unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light and negatively affected their public standing.”

Littlejohn’s own deposition reportedly described his actions as “less about harm, more just about a statement,” noting that there was “little harm that can actually be done to him… He’s shown a remarkable resilience.”

The legal action comes nearly six years after The New York Times published a report in September 2020 revealing that Trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency and no federal taxes in 10 of the previous 15 years. Trump had repeatedly refused to release his tax returns ahead of the 2016 and 2020 elections, citing an ongoing audit.

Trump resigned from his private business and hundreds of affiliated entities in 2017 before taking office, and the lawsuit seeks to hold federal authorities accountable for allegedly failing to prevent the leaks that followed.