Recent Quotes View Full List My Watchlist Create Watchlist Indicators DJI Nasdaq Composite SPX Gold Crude Oil Hydroworld Market Index Markets Stocks ETFs Tools Overview News Currencies International Treasuries IRS apologizes to Ken Griffin and thousands of Americans for tax data leak By: FOX Business June 25, 2024 at 18:36 PM EDT The Internal Revenue Service issued a public apology to Citadel CEO Ken Griffin as part of the settlement of a lawsuit he filed following the leak of thousands of Americans tax data. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Tuesday issued a public apology to billionaire Ken Griffin and thousands of Americans, including former President Donald Trump and Elon Musk who had their personal information leaked to the media."The Internal Revenue Service sincerely apologizes to Mr. Kenneth Griffin and the thousands of other Americans whose personal information was leaked to the press," the IRS said in a statement. "The IRS takes its responsibilities seriously and acknowledges that it failed to prevent Mr. Littlejohn's criminal conduct and unlawful disclosure of Mr. Griffin's confidential data.""Accordingly, the IRS assures Mr. Griffin and the other victims of Mr. Littlejohn's actions that it has made substantial investments in its data security to strengthen its safeguarding of taxpayer information. These investments address potential weaknesses in the IRS's systems as identified by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), which provides independent oversight of the IRS," the statement continued, adding it will continue to work to address potential vulnerabilities.The public apology comes as part of a settlement to a lawsuit brought by Citadel CEO Griffin against the IRS in the wake of the data breach, which occurred when IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn used his access to confidential tax return information to leak that data belonging to thousands of wealthy Americans to news outlets between 2018 and 2020.CITADEL'S KEN GRIFFIN SUES IRS OVER 'UNLAWFUL' TAX RETURN LEAKLittlejohn improperly accessed the data through an IRS database and uploaded the tax returns to a private website as a means of circumventing the agency's safeguards to prevent large downloads or uploads from IRS devices and systems. He then saved the tax returns on multiple storage devices before passing along the data to media outlets in 2019 and 2020. Littlejohn gave Trump's tax information to the New York Times and provided data on others, including Griffin and Musk, to ProPublica.IRS LEFT SENSITIVE TAXPAYER INFO VULNERABLE TO LEAKS, INSPECTOR GENERAL FINDSIn January, the 38-year-old Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information."I am grateful to my team for securing an outcome that will better protect American taxpayers and that will ultimately benefit all Americans," Griffin said in a statement reacting to the IRS apology amid the settlement.GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREGriffin is set to appear on Fox News' "Special Report" on Tuesday. Data & News supplied by www.cloudquote.io Stock quotes supplied by Barchart Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes. By accessing this page, you agree to the following Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.
IRS apologizes to Ken Griffin and thousands of Americans for tax data leak By: FOX Business June 25, 2024 at 18:36 PM EDT The Internal Revenue Service issued a public apology to Citadel CEO Ken Griffin as part of the settlement of a lawsuit he filed following the leak of thousands of Americans tax data. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Tuesday issued a public apology to billionaire Ken Griffin and thousands of Americans, including former President Donald Trump and Elon Musk who had their personal information leaked to the media."The Internal Revenue Service sincerely apologizes to Mr. Kenneth Griffin and the thousands of other Americans whose personal information was leaked to the press," the IRS said in a statement. "The IRS takes its responsibilities seriously and acknowledges that it failed to prevent Mr. Littlejohn's criminal conduct and unlawful disclosure of Mr. Griffin's confidential data.""Accordingly, the IRS assures Mr. Griffin and the other victims of Mr. Littlejohn's actions that it has made substantial investments in its data security to strengthen its safeguarding of taxpayer information. These investments address potential weaknesses in the IRS's systems as identified by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), which provides independent oversight of the IRS," the statement continued, adding it will continue to work to address potential vulnerabilities.The public apology comes as part of a settlement to a lawsuit brought by Citadel CEO Griffin against the IRS in the wake of the data breach, which occurred when IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn used his access to confidential tax return information to leak that data belonging to thousands of wealthy Americans to news outlets between 2018 and 2020.CITADEL'S KEN GRIFFIN SUES IRS OVER 'UNLAWFUL' TAX RETURN LEAKLittlejohn improperly accessed the data through an IRS database and uploaded the tax returns to a private website as a means of circumventing the agency's safeguards to prevent large downloads or uploads from IRS devices and systems. He then saved the tax returns on multiple storage devices before passing along the data to media outlets in 2019 and 2020. Littlejohn gave Trump's tax information to the New York Times and provided data on others, including Griffin and Musk, to ProPublica.IRS LEFT SENSITIVE TAXPAYER INFO VULNERABLE TO LEAKS, INSPECTOR GENERAL FINDSIn January, the 38-year-old Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information."I am grateful to my team for securing an outcome that will better protect American taxpayers and that will ultimately benefit all Americans," Griffin said in a statement reacting to the IRS apology amid the settlement.GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREGriffin is set to appear on Fox News' "Special Report" on Tuesday.