The US Treasury has cancelled all contracts with the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton after an employee leaked confidential tax returns, including those of President Donald Trump. The department said on Monday that all 31 contracts, worth $4.8 million in annual spending and $21 million in total obligations, would be terminated.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said the decision was part of a drive to “root out waste, fraud, and abuse” and to increase public trust in government. He added that Booz Allen had failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data, including taxpayer information accessed through its contracts with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Between 2018 and 2020, Booz Allen employee Charles Edward Littlejohn stole and leaked the confidential tax returns of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers. The leak affected approximately 406,000 people and included information on high-profile individuals such as Mr Trump, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, which was passed to media outlets including The New York Times and ProPublica.
Littlejohn pleaded guilty to felony charges for unauthorised disclosure of confidential tax information and was sentenced to the maximum term of five years in prison in January 2024. Following the Treasury announcement, Booz Allen’s share price fell by 10 points.
In response, Booz Allen said it had consistently condemned Littlejohn’s actions, which occurred more than five years ago on government systems. The company said it stores no taxpayer data on its own systems and had fully supported the government’s investigation, which led to Littlejohn’s prosecution. It said it looked forward to discussing the matter with the Treasury.
