From Bloomberg, September 14:
- ProPublica vows to protect sources amid ‘sprawling’ requests
- Griffin suing IRS over failure to protect his secret tax data
Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin has subpoenaed ProPublica and five of its journalists for documents related to the publication of reports that detailed his secret tax return information.
The Citadel founder requested the information last month as part of his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, according to a filing Tuesday in federal court in Miami. Griffin claims in the suit that the IRS failed to establish “appropriate administrative, technical, and/or physical safeguards” to protect his private data.
ProPublica published tax information last year about many of the wealthiest US taxpayers, including Griffin. It reported he had an average annual income of almost $1.7 billion between 2013 and 2018 and paid an average federal tax rate of 29.2% during that time. Billionaires including Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk had in some years paid minimal or no income tax even as their fortunes soared, ProPublica reported.
A ProPublica spokesperson said it received “sprawling” subpoenas from Griffin’s lawyers, and it doesn’t know the identity of the source who provided the tax information.
“We are deeply committed to protecting our sources — who are the lifeblood of our journalism — and the independence of our newsroom,” the spokesperson said. “This is sacrosanct at ProPublica and will remain our priority as we address Griffin’s subpoenas.”...
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