IRS investigators Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler, who blew the whistle on Hunter Biden’s tax crimes, filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit Friday against the First Son’s attorney Abbe Lowell in Washington DC.
They accuse Lowell of behaving with “clear malice” when he retaliated against their whistleblowing by making defamatory statements to the media alleging that they had illegally leaked Hunter’s private tax information.
As a result of Lowell’s statements Shapley and Ziegler claim their reputations suffered “incredible and malicious harm.”
“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,” says the filing in the DC District Court.
While the pair say they acted professionally and cautiously in making their whistleblower disclosures to Congress, Lowell “falsely and maliciously accused Shapley and Ziegler of committing crimes — namely, the illegal disclosure of grand jury materials and taxpayer return information — despite the fact that they never publicly discussed return information that was not already public.”
A sweetheart plea deal between Hunter and Delaware US attorney David Weiss fell apart last year after Shapley and Ziegler went public with their concerns.
Last week, their concerns were validated when Hunter pleaded guilty to all felony tax crimes brought against him.