Topline
The Treasury Department is cancelling all contracts with consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton directly citing the case of Charles Littlejohn—a former Booz Allen contractor who was sentenced to five years in federal prison for leaking President Donald Trump’s tax returns in 2024.
Booz Allen’s stock slumped over 11% on Monday after the contracts were cancelled.
Getty Images
Key Facts
Secretary Scott Bessent said the Treasury Department will cancel 31 total contracts with Booz Allen, which are worth $4.8 million annually and $21 million in total obligations.
The move was designed to bolster trust in the Treasury Department, Bessent said, claiming that Booz Allen did not have “adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data.”
A press release from the Treasury Department directly cited Littlejohn, who pleaded guilty after turning himself in 2023.
The Treasury Department said Littlejohn “stole and leaked” tax return data from a total of 406,000 taxpayers.
Booz Allen is a major government contractor, and its shares fell as were down over 11.2% as of 12 p.m. EST.
In a statement sent to Forbes, Booz Allen spokesperson Brian P. Hale said the company “consistently condemned” Littlejohn’s actions, noting he worked for the company years ago and the criminal activity happened more than five years earlier on “government systems.”
“Booz Allen stores no taxpayer data on its systems and has no ability to monitor activity on government networks,” Hale said, adding that the company supported the U.S. investigation into Littlejohn and would discuss this matter further with the Treasury Department.
Key Background
Littlejohn pleaded guilty to stealing and leaking tax returns from Trump and “thousands” of other wealthy individuals. According to the Justice Department, Littlejohn used “broad search parameters” to evade detection. He then stored the tax information on personal storage devices, including an iPod, and delivered them to two news organizations. The New York Times reported on Trump’s tax returns around the same time, and ProPublica published a series of stories about the tax returns of wealthy Americans.