TRUTH WINS: TAD Admits Taxpayer Info Exposed on Internet

In the statement below, the Tarrant Appraisal District Board of Directors acknowledged that taxpayers' confidential information was exposed on the internet because of a data security failure.  

The admission was the result of a marathon meeting late Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, after I posted online and emailed thousands of my clients about the problems a day earlier. 

I felt it was the right thing to do because nobody else was willing to tell the truth.

After discovering the issue in October 2022, the prior TAD chief appraiser, Jeff Law and IT director chose to keep the data breach secret. In August 2023, secret audio of the IT director conspiring to lie to the public was published by the Star-Telegram. The fallout resulted in the IT director getting fired and the chief appraiser resigned. 

The TAD board opened an investigation after hearing the secret audio in an attempt to find out the truth.

On November 17, 2023, the TAD board chairman announced that the board was closing the investigation indicating no taxpayers would be notified of the issue. I found out through my sources that the investigation was being closed after only interviewing about half of the small IT department. I voiced my concerns privately and publically to the board and continued my own inquiries confirming that internal whistleblowers had provided the investigators with evidence showing private taxpayer information was exposed on the internet. 

I sounded the alarm by telling you the truth. TAD initially responded by issuing a statement calling my information unfounded.

Thankfully, hundreds of concerned taxpayers voiced concerns online and inundated TAD and its board members with calls and emails about these whistleblower allegations.

The TAD board heard you and responded.

After a marathon 9-hour board meeting, the TAD board attorney, Matthew Tepper, released an official statement on behalf of the board. He said an investigation discovered a data breach included private information, such as passwords, driver's licenses, resumes, and other information submitted by taxpayers.

"This information demonstrates that there were significant vulnerabilities in TAD's systems that would have allowed access to confidential taxpayer information," the board's attorney wrote. "However, there is no evidence of an actual compromise of any taxpayer information."

Stay tuned... I'm pretty sure they'll find evidence that shows someone accessed the private taxpayer data and also that ex-chief appraiser Jeff Law and other executives knew about it the entire time.

I believe TAD's board is now responding appropriately (thanks to you).  

Join me at the next TAD board meeting on Dec. 21, 2023 to learn more about the investigation.

See below for the TAD board official response: