IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler say a judge should not dismiss their defamation lawsuit against Hunter Biden attorney Abbe Lowell.
The lawsuit, filed in September, alleges Lowell defamed them when he publicly claimed Shapley and Ziegler broke the law by disclosing grand jury and tax information to the public regarding criminal allegations against Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son. Lowell previously filed a motion asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming he was expressing his legal opinion in his rebuke of the whistleblowers.
But in the latest court filing, Shapley and Ziegler say the lawsuit should not be dismissed.
“Lowell viciously attacked our integrity and our reputations to try to protect Hunter Biden, who has now admitted his guilt to the crimes we believed were being covered up,” they said in a joint statement to The Center Square. “Our opposition to his Motion to Dismiss explains that he apparently became frustrated that the DOJ did not believe his allegations about us, so he took his libelous statements straight to the media.”
Shapley and Ziegler, longtime IRS employees, went public with accusations that President Biden’s Department of Justice interfered in their investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax evasion case, for which Hunter eventually pleaded guilty. Hunter, the president’s son, was accused of failing to file and pay $1.4 million in taxes, filing false information, and claiming false and fraudulent business deductions.
“Hunter Biden was found guilty by a jury of his peers and admitted he was guilty of the crimes for which we lawfully blew the whistle,” Shapley and Ziegler said in the statement to The Center Square. “Now Lowell does not want to face the consequences for his attacks on us. He picked the wrong people to attack. We will continue to do the right thing by protecting ourselves and the whistleblower process for future whistleblowers.”
President Biden last month pardoned Hunter on the tax charges and on separate gun charges. The president’s pardon covers any potential crimes dating back to 2014, also covering the years when Hunter brought in millions of dollars to his business using the Biden family name, according to House investigations.
Shapley’s and Ziegler’s latest filing notes that “they seek no favors. They need no pardon because they never violated the law.”
