Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday mentioned he had canceled all Treasury Division contracts with the consulting agency Booz Allen Hamilton, whose worker leaked the tax data of President Donald Trump, and the billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, to media retailers.
Booz Allen Hamilton’s inventory value dropped by greater than 10% on the heels of the Treasury Division’s announcement.
The division mentioned it at present has 31 separate contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton, totaling $4.8 million in annual spending and $21 million in complete obligations.
“President Trump has entrusted his cupboard to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and canceling these contracts is an important step to growing Individuals’ belief in authorities,” Bessent mentioned in a press release.
The Booz Allen Hamilton Headquarters on June 20, 2024 in Mclean, Virginia.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Pictures Information | Getty Pictures
“Booz Allen did not implement sufficient safeguards to guard delicate knowledge, together with the confidential taxpayer data it had entry to by means of its contracts with the Inner Income Service,” he mentioned.
The division famous that between 2018 and 2020, Booz Allen worker Charles Edward Littlejohn “stole and leaked the confidential tax returns and return data of tons of of 1000’s of taxpayers.”
The information breach affected about 406,000 taxpayers, in accordance with the IRS.
Littlejohn, 40, pleaded responsible in October 2023 to 1 rely of disclosure of tax return data.
He admitted leaking Trump’s tax data to The New York Instances. He additionally admitted to leaking data about rich people to the information outlet ProPublica.
He was sentenced to the utmost time period of 5 years in jail in January 2024.
Booz Allen, in a press release Monday, mentioned, “Now we have constantly condemned within the strongest potential phrases the actions of Charles Littlejohn, who was energetic with the corporate years in the past.”
“Booz Allen has zero tolerance for violations of the regulation and operates beneath the best moral {and professional} tips. When Littlejohn’s felony conduct occurred over 5 years in the past, it was on authorities methods, not Booz Allen methods,” the corporate mentioned.
“Booz Allen shops no taxpayer knowledge on its methods and has no skill to observe exercise on authorities networks,” the assertion mentioned. “Booz Allen totally supported the U.S. authorities in its investigation, and the federal government expressed gratitude for our help, which led to Littlejohn’s prosecution. We stay up for discussing this matter with Treasury.”
