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However, the two IRS agents allege that attorney Abbe Lowell launched a public smear campaign against them. Lowell, who represents Hunter Biden, reportedly accused them of committing crimes, including leaking grand jury materials and taxpayer information. Shapley and Ziegler contend that these allegations are not only false but malicious in nature.
The lawsuit accuses Lowell of spreading lies in a way that was designed to ruin their reputations. The whistleblowers claim that Lowell “falsely and maliciously” accused them of leaking confidential taxpayer information, despite the fact that all the information they discussed was already public knowledge. They argue that Lowell’s statements were part of a larger effort to discredit them and protect his client from further scrutiny.
“Lowell’s malicious and false allegations, including accusations that Shapley and Ziegler ‘committed felonies’ and ‘violated the law,’ were published to third parties, including the media, and have severely harmed their professional and personal reputations,” the lawsuit states.
Shapley and Ziegler point to a letter Lowell sent on September 14, 2023, as one example of this defamation. The letter, which was sent to several congressional committees, accused the two whistleblowers of violating secrecy rules related to grand jury proceedings and taxpayer confidentiality statutes. According to the complaint, Lowell’s letter was a calculated effort to republish previous defamatory statements in a broader and more damaging forum.
The whistleblowers also claim that Lowell sent a letter to the Department of Justice’s Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, repeating the same false allegations. In that letter, Lowell stated that Shapley and Ziegler had distributed “grand jury and taxpayer information, including through multiple nationally-televised on-camera interviews of [Shapley].” He further labeled their actions as a “clear-cut” crime, implying that their whistleblower protections did not apply in this case.
For the IRS agents, this campaign of defamation has caused significant damage to their personal and professional lives. Both men are seeking $10 million each in damages from Lowell for what they describe as an ongoing effort to smear their names and discredit their whistleblower testimony.
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Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler are no strangers to controversy. The two agents have been at the center of the Hunter Biden investigation since its inception. Their whistleblower testimony last year outlined how the investigation was allegedly stymied by political interference, raising serious concerns about the integrity of the process. They claimed that Hunter Biden initially received a highly favorable plea deal from then-U.S. Attorney David Weiss, but that agreement was later thrown out by a federal judge.
Hunter Biden has since been convicted on separate federal firearms charges and pleaded guilty to tax evasion in a separate case. However, the controversy surrounding the original investigation continues to make headlines, as Shapley and Ziegler seek to clear their names and hold Hunter Biden’s legal team accountable for what they believe to be a baseless smear campaign.
The lawsuit is another chapter in the ongoing saga surrounding Hunter Biden, his legal troubles, and the political fallout from the investigation. As Shapley and Ziegler fight to restore their reputations, this high-profile defamation case is sure to draw even more attention to the already volatile situation.
