Treasury Severs Ties With Federal Consulting Giant Over Trump Tax Return Leak

The Treasury Department announced Monday that it is canceling all contracts with consulting giant Booz Allen Hamilton, citing the firm’s link to a massive data breach that led to the leak of President Donald Trump’s tax returns to the press.

Treasury has 31 separate contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton that will be cancelled, totaling roughly $4.8 million in annual spending and $21 million in overall obligations. Between 2018 and 2020, Booz Allen Hamilton employee Charles Edward Littlejohn stole and leaked the confidential tax returns and return information of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers, including Trump.

“President Trump has entrusted his cabinet to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and canceling these contracts is an essential step to increasing Americans’ trust in government,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a statement. “Booz Allen failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data, including the confidential taxpayer information it had access to through its contracts with the Internal Revenue Service.”

Littlejohn allegedly applied to work as an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) contractor with the hope of accessing and disclosing Trump’s tax returns. He later admitted to leaking the president’s tax records to The New York Times, as well as those of other wealthy individuals, including Elon Musk, to other outlets.

Littlejohn pleaded guilty to felony charges for unlawfully disclosing confidential tax information and was sentenced in January 2024 to five years in prison. The IRS has since determined that the breach affected approximately 406,000 taxpayers, significantly more than its initial estimate of 70,000.

“We have consistently condemned in the strongest possible terms the actions of Charles Littlejohn, who was active with the company years ago,” Booz Allen Hamilton said in a statement Monday. “Booz Allen has zero tolerance for violations of the law and operates under the highest ethical and professional guidelines. When Littlejohn’s criminal conduct occurred over 5 years ago, it was on government systems, not Booz Allen systems.”

“Booz Allen stores no taxpayer data on its systems and has no ability to monitor activity on government networks,” the statement said. “Booz Allen fully supported the U.S. government in its investigation, and the government expressed gratitude for our assistance, which led to Littlejohn’s prosecution. We look forward to discussing this matter with Treasury.”

Despite the canceled Treasury Department contracts, the move represents only a small fraction of its total business with the government. The company won $7.5 billion in total obligations from agencies in fiscal 2025, according to the Federal News Network.