US President Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), alleging that the unlawful disclosure of his tax records caused significant financial and reputational damage to him and his businesses.
The suit, filed on Thursday in a Miami federal court, was brought by Trump in his personal capacity alongside his two eldest sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., as well as their family business, The Trump Organization. It names the IRS and the US Treasury Department as defendants, accusing them of failing in their duty to protect confidential tax information.
According to the lawsuit, Trump’s tax records were leaked to the media by Charles “Chaz” Littlejohn, a former IRS employee who worked at the agency between May 2019 and September 2020.
“Defendants have caused Plaintiffs reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing,” the court filing stated.
Trump’s tax returns attracted intense public scrutiny during his first term in office after he broke with long-standing presidential tradition by refusing to release them while campaigning.
In 2023, Littlejohn pleaded guilty to the unauthorized release of Trump’s tax records and was sentenced to five years in prison.
In September 2020, The New York Times reported that Trump paid just $750 in federal income tax in both 2016 and 2017, and paid no federal income tax at all for 10 of the previous 15 years—reports that were based on the leaked documents.
This is not the first legal action Trump has taken against the federal government during his presidency. The New York Times previously reported that he sought $230 million in damages from the US Department of Justice over investigations into his handling of classified documents and alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The White House has not yet commented on the latest lawsuit.
