The U.S. asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit hedge fund manager Ken Griffin filed against the Internal Revenue Service after the billionaire accused the agency of failing to protect his confidential financial information. 

The Citadel founder sued in December, seeking financial damages over a data breach that resulted in ProPublica’s publication of information on some of the wealthiest people in the U.S. Griffin accused the IRS of “willful and intentional failure to establish appropriate administrative, technical, and/or physical safeguards” to protect his tax information.

In response, the government said Griffin “fails to allege any facts demonstrating that IRS personnel improperly obtained his records and provided those records to ProPublica,” according to a filing Tuesday in Miami federal court. 

Griffin also makes no attempt, “beyond a conclusory statement, to explain how the IRS perpetrated the wrongful access and disclosure of his information and why the information allegedly disclosed is protected by” the Privacy Act, Justice Department lawyers wrote.  

The billionaire’s claim of a wrongful disclosure also should be dismissed, the U.S. argued. 

Lawyers for Griffin, 54, didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment. 

In a statement at the time he filed the lawsuit, Griffin said: “IRS employees deliberately stole the confidential tax returns of several hundred successful American business leaders.”

He said it’s “unacceptable that government officials have failed to thoroughly investigate this unlawful theft of confidential and personal information. Americans expect our government to uphold the laws of our nation when it comes to our private and personal information—whether it be tax returns or health care records.”

Republicans, who control of the House of Representatives, have pledged to use their power to investigate the breach and the IRS response. 

The ProPublica report said billionaires including Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk had in some years paid minimal or no income tax even as their fortunes soared. It outlined the tax strategies available to the top 0.1%. 

Griffin reported 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, ProPublica reported. 

Griffin has a net worth of $34.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Michael Bloomberg, majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, was also among those included in the reporting.

In its response on Tuesday, the U.S. said the Griffin lawsuit based its claim on “information and belief” that an IRS employee disclosed the material to ProPublica. 

“This speculative allegation—based on information and belief—evinces a shotgun pleading that falls short of the line between possible and plausible,” U.S. lawyers wrote. 

Griffin’s wrongful disclosure claim is a “textbook shotgun pleading” that “offers only vague and conclusory allegations that unidentified IRS personnel are responsible for the alleged disclosure of his return information.”

The case is Griffin v. Internal Revenue Service, 22-cv-24023, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida.

This article was provided by Bloomberg News.