Eriq Gardner reports:
Donald Trump never did sue The New York Times for revealing he took a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns. He threatened, but to date, no lawsuit has come. That leaves some unanswered questions about the legality of a media outlet disclosing one’s tax information, since there are many statutes that broadly guard the confidentiality of tax returns. Can Howard Stern fill the void?
On Monday, Stern was sued by a woman named Judith Barrigas, whose tax information was disseminated in the oddest way.
According to her complaint filed in Massachusetts federal court, she called the IRS’s service center on May 19, 2015, to discuss how the tax agency had applied prior year liabilities to her tax refund. She got connected to Jimmy Forsythe, an IRS agent.
Before the two connected, Forsythe had called into the Howard Stern Show using another phone line. While on hold, Forsythe took Barrigas’ call and proceeded to spend 45 minutes with her discussing her tax case. Apparently, during this conversation, someone at Stern’s show heard what was happening and decided to air the discussion live on satellite radio.
Read more on The Hollywood Reporter.
Okay, I know…. it’s the Hollywood Reporter, for Pete’s sake, but it’s an interesting privacy complaint, isn’t it?