President Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department, alleging that federal tax authorities failed to safeguard his confidential tax records and allowed a former contractor to unlawfully disclose the information to news organizations.
The civil action was lodged Thursday in federal court in Miami. The complaint asserts that the IRS and Treasury did not take adequate measures to prevent the release of Trump’s personal tax returns from nearly a decade ago, along with records belonging to his business and family members. Trump is pursuing the case in his personal capacity, rather than in his role as president.
In addition to Trump, the plaintiffs include his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, as well as the Trump Organization. The lawsuit contends that the disclosures caused lasting harm to their reputations and finances.
“Defendants have caused Plaintiffs reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing,” the complaint says.
Officials at the Treasury Department and the IRS did not immediately address inquiries seeking comment late Thursday.
The lawsuit centers on the actions of Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024 after admitting in federal court that he unlawfully accessed and disclosed confidential tax records. Littlejohn pleaded guilty a year earlier to leaking Trump’s tax information to The New York Times, which published an investigative series in 2020 detailing Trump’s federal income tax payments for 2016 and 2017.
That reporting revealed that Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in each of those two years. At the time, Trump dismissed the coverage as “totally fake news” and said the information had been “illegally obtained.”
Court records show that Littlejohn acknowledged stealing tax data belonging not only to Trump but also to thousands of other wealthy individuals during 2019 and 2020. Those affected included billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, according to his admissions in federal court.
Following Littlejohn’s sentencing, the IRS issued a public statement condemning his conduct as “unacceptable” and said it had notified impacted taxpayers. The agency added that it had strengthened internal safeguards in response to the breach.
“It bears noting that the IRS has taken aggressive action more generally to enhance data security — to ensure, to the fullest extent feasible, that nothing like the Littlejohn incident can happen in the future,” the statement said.
Trump, who now finds himself in court against agencies within his own administration, has previously indicated he intended to seek substantial financial compensation from the federal government over past investigations and disclosures involving him. Speaking to reporters last year, he said he was pursuing “a lot of money” in damages.
The New York Times reported in October that Trump was seeking $230 million from the Justice Department in a separate matter. When asked about that figure, Trump responded, “It could be.” He also remarked on the unusual nature of approving compensation for himself, saying at the time, “It’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.”
Trump said then that any money awarded would be donated to charities or directed “to the White House while we restore the White House.”
Neither the White House nor the Trump Organization immediately addressed questions Thursday about the IRS lawsuit or what Trump would do with any damages awarded in the case.
Since returning to office, Trump has filed a series of high-dollar lawsuits, frequently seeking damages in the billions. Last year, he brought a $10 billion defamation suit against the BBC, alleging the broadcaster misrepresented his remarks in edited footage from Jan. 6, 2021. The BBC has said it plans to contest the case and moved this month to have it dismissed.
In July, Trump filed another $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch, whose company controls the newspaper, over reporting that examined a crude drawing Trump was alleged to have sent financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. A Dow Jones spokesperson defended the reporting at the time and said the company would “vigorously defend” itself.
Trump has also sued JPMorgan Chase and its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, seeking $5 billion in damages and alleging the bank closed his accounts for political reasons. In another case, he sued The New York Times and three of its reporters for defamation over coverage of his 2024 campaign, asking for $15 billion. JPMorgan and the Times have both said those lawsuits lack merit.
The lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury places a renewed spotlight on data security inside federal agencies and raises unusual legal and ethical questions given Trump’s position as president. While the complaint frames the case as a failure of institutional safeguards rather than a political dispute, it underscores how deeply personal grievances have intersected with Trump’s use of the courts.
Legal experts note that while the federal government can be held liable for certain privacy violations, claims of this magnitude face high hurdles. Plaintiffs must demonstrate not only negligence but also concrete damages directly attributable to agency failures. The outcome could help define the limits of federal responsibility in protecting taxpayer data in an era of increasingly digitized records.
The case also revives debate over the public interest value of leaked tax information involving powerful figures versus the legal protections afforded to confidential financial records. Media organizations have long argued that reporting on the tax practices of public officials serves democratic accountability, while government agencies emphasize the inviolability of taxpayer privacy.
Politically, the lawsuit reinforces Trump’s broader strategy of aggressive legal confrontation with institutions he views as hostile, from media organizations to banks and now federal agencies. Whether the courts ultimately side with Trump or dismiss the claims, the case is likely to reverberate well beyond the courtroom, shaping discussions about privacy, accountability and presidential power.
As the litigation proceeds, it will test not only the government’s defenses but also the boundaries between personal legal action and the authority of the presidency — an intersection rarely examined with such financial and political stakes.
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