Billionaire hedge fund boss Ken Griffin sues IRS for leak of his tax returns
Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin has filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service alleging that someone aę§t the agency illegally leaked his tax returns to the news site ProPublica last year.
Griffin, the founder and CEO of Citadel, accused the IRS anđ¯d the Treasury Department of breaching privacy lđaws after ProPublica published tax information of billionaires including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and real estate mogul Stephen Ross.
The Post has sought comment from the Treasury Department, which has vowed to investigatđe the leak.
ProPublica titled “The Secret IRS Files” last year examining thousands of tax returns belonging to the wealthiest Americans.
The site , Griffin, whose net worth to be $31.9 billion, reported an average annual income of almost $1.7 billion, but paid a tax rate of just 29.2% — far lower than the top marginal income tax rate of nearly 40%.
ProPublica found that other mogulā´s worth billions managed to avoid income tax entirely for years by claiming substantial losses in their businesses.
âThe IRS made these unlawful disclosures knowingly, or at the very least negligently or with gross negligence,â Griffin’s lawsuit, which was filed in Miami federal court on Tuesday, states.
âThe IRS willfully failed to establish appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to insure the security and cođnfidentiality of Mr. Griffinâs confidential taxpayer information.â
The lawsuit continued: âDespite being aware of its security deficiencies for over a decade, the IRS willfully failed to establish appropriate administrative, technđ ical, and physical safeguards to insure the security of confidential tax return information, including Mr. Griffinâs confidential tax return information.âđŗ
âIRS personnel exploited these willđful failures to misappropriate Mr. Griffinâs confidential tax return information and unlawfully disclose that informatiođ¸n to ProPublica for further publication,â the court filing stated.
Griffin is seeking $1,000 for each act of “unauthorized” disclosure as well as unspecified damages.
Republicans, who expressed outrage at the leak of the tax returns, have vowed to pursue further investigations once they assume control of the đHouse of Representatives after the new year.
âIRS employees deliberatđŗely stole the confidential tax returns of several hundred successful American ęĻbusiness leaders,â Griffin said in a statement
âIt is unacceptable that government officials have failed to thoroughly investigate this unlawful theft ofđŧ confidential đand personal information.â
Stephen Engelberg, ProPublica’s editor-in-chief, and the site’s then-president, Dick Tofel, wrote last year they were “quite selectively and carefully” publishing confidential tax return data because “we believe it serves the public interest in fundamental ways, allowing readers to see patterns that were until now hidden.”
ProPublica has not specifieđd precisely how it obtained thđe information.