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Despite the federal government’s previous assertion of “thousands” of victims, the number is at least 50,000 and as many as 70,000

The IRS thief behind the largest theft of private taxpayer information in U.S. history stole the individual and business tax files of 50,000 – 70,000 people, according to a column in the Wall Street Journal today written by a victim of the theft.

In sentencing IRS thief Charles Littlejohn, the government understated the amount of victims by using the term “thousands” instead of “tens of thousands.” As it turns out, the thief committed at least 50,000 felonies and yet was only charged with one single count, a decision that has not been adequately explained by the government.

Victims include Lebron James, Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift, Tiger Woods, Lorne Michaels, Calvin Klein, Floyd Mayweather, Justin Verlander, the GOAT Michael Jordan and tens of thousands of other Americans — most of whom are not famous. Many of them are about to receive a notification from the U.S. Treasury that their privacy has been compromised.

The overall “vast trove” of stolen files contains many years of tax returns, tax audits, details of stock trades, gambling losses, and medical expense deductions.

Note: Despite the media hype, the thief was NOT formally charged with stealing Donald Trump’s tax returns, because the statute of limitations had already been reached on that particular theft.

The thief got off easy: Only five years incarceration for committing 50,000 felonies. That amounts to less than an hour per felony. The thief is appealing the sentence, and the left is already trying to assert the man is a hero.

Today’s news of 50,000 or more victims comes from a piece by journalist Ira Stoll, who was recently notified by the U.S. Treasury Department that his information was stolen and given to the progressive organization, Pro Publica.

Stoll writes:

The Crime Victims’ Rights Act gives me the right to confer with government lawyers. I spoke by phone with two federal prosecutors, Jonathan Jacobson and Jennifer Clarke. Mr. Jacobson told me that “over 50,000” and perhaps as many as 70,000 taxpayers have been affected by the disclosure, making it the largest known unauthorized disclosure of tax information in U.S. history. Those numbers surprised me. The Justice Department’s sentencing memorandum in the case cites “thousands” of victims, so many that it “makes it impracticable” to provide everyone the rights guaranteed by law. The memo spoke of the “psychological harm” Mr. Littlejohn had caused.

“Worse, it appears that the harm may continue indefinitely,” the memo says, noting that the news organization “has continued to publish stories” based on the leak. That means that “victims who believe their information has only been disclosed to a news organization, but not yet to the general public, have no assurance that their personal information will not be the subject of a news article tomorrow, next week, next month, or even next year.”

The thief admitted he sought a job with access to sensitive IRS systems with the full intention of stealing private files.

The progressive Pro Publica published the first of its reports coincidentally [cough] at the same moment congressional Democrats and President Biden launched a major tax increase effort.

After voyeuring their way through the private tax files, the progressive team at Pro Publica realized that high-earning Americans do in fact pay a very steep tax rate. So the group desperately contrived something it deemed a “True Tax Rate” based on unrealized gains. As in, “gains” that are not yet real.

Again coincidentally [cough], President Biden and congressional Democrats are trying to impose taxes on unrealized gains.

In an attempt to morally justify their decision to play ball with the thief and commit massive privacy violations, the progressive Pro Publica was sure to note the “lavish” lifestyles of the victims. Their attitude seems to be: We will violate your right to privacy if you reach a certain affluence level.

Pro Publica fashions itself as a government watchdog but is remarkably incurious about the theft itself and the breach of public trust caused by IRS failure to safeguard private files.

The thief was an IRS contractor via the large firm Booz Allen. He somehow had access to “vast amounts of unmasked taxpayer data” on IRS systems.

Biden’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS brass spent two years trying to downplay the likelihood the stolen material originated from IRS systems. You can see a video compilation of these statements here and a written compilation here.

Unbelievably, the IRS recently inked a contract with Booz Allen worth up to $2.6 billion — for database and IT services. Beltway media is remarkably incurious about that as well.

Surely, definitely, the “journalism with moral force” folks at Pro Publica are looking into it.

Meanwhile more and more Americans are learning they are a victim of the theft, and they have no idea when their private information will be published against their will.