The lawsuit was filed in response to a leak of information that occurred in 2024. Former contractor for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Charles Edward Littlejohn, provided tax data of Trump and other prominent figures to publications such as The New York Times and ProPublica.
Based on these leaks, The New York Times reported in 2020 that Trump had not paid income tax for an extended period. In 2024, Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison for violating Section 6103 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, which pertains to the confidentiality of tax information.
