The IRS investigators who exposed Hunter Biden’s tax crimes filed a $20 million defamation lawsuit on Friday against Hunter’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, accusing him of retaliating against their whistleblowing efforts by making defamatory statements, alleging that they illegally leaked Hunter’s private tax information.
According to the suit brought by Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler, Lowell’s claims caused “incredible and malicious harm” to their reputations. The filing in DC District Court asserts, “As whistleblowers, Shapley and Ziegler acted with honor and integrity in exposing conflicts of interest, preferential treatment, and political motivations that they reasonably believed were interfering with the criminal tax investigation of Hunter Biden.”
Shapley and Ziegler maintain they acted professionally in their whistleblower disclosures to Congress. However, they claim Lowell “falsely and maliciously accused [them] of committing crimes” by disclosing grand jury materials and taxpayer return information, despite never publicly sharing any non-public details.
Their concerns about preferential treatment were brought to light after a plea deal between Hunter Biden and Delaware US attorney David Weiss fell apart last year. Just last week, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to all felony tax crimes charged against him, further validating the whistleblowers’ claims.
