Hunter Biden's attorney is being sued by IRS whistleblowers for $20M in a defamation case, alleging "clear malice."
Attorney Abbe Lowell is accused by IRS investigators Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler of retaliating against them for exposing the politicization of the Hunter Biden investigation.
An attorney for Hunter Biden was accused of behaving with "clear malice" by two IRS agents who filed a $20 million defamation lawsuit against him on Friday, alleging that he had engaged in political interference with their investigation into the younger Biden's tax crimes.
Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler, IRS investigators, allege that attorney Abbe Lowell retaliated against them for their work in exposing the favorable treatment Hunter Biden was receiving in relation to his unpaid taxes.
The lawsuit, filed in D.C. court, alleges that the pair are filing the case to "defend their reputations from the unjust harm they have endured."
According to Shapley and Ziegler, as whistleblowers, they 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.
According to them, they acted in accordance with the law and Lowell falsely and maliciously accused them of committing crimes, specifically the illegal disclosure of grand jury materials and taxpayer return information, even though they never publicly discussed returning any information that was not already public.
The complaint alleges that Lowell's false accusations against Shapley and Ziegler, which claimed they committed felonies and violated the law, were published to third parties, including the media, and have severely damaged their professional and personal reputations.
The lawsuit includes a Sept. 14, 2023, letter from Lowell to several congressional committees, in which the pair allege that Lowell falsely accused them of violating grand jury secrecy rules and the taxpayer confidentiality statute.
The complaint alleges that the act of republishing the entire package of previous defamatory falsehoods in a larger forum was intended to harm Shapley and Ziegler.
The whistleblowers also allege that Lowell released Biden's legal team's communications to the media, including an April 21, 2023, letter written by another Biden attorney to the Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General's Office, accusing one or both of the whistleblowers of leaking information to the press revealing an investigation that was allegedly in violation of federal law.
In December 2020, it was publicly known that Hunter Biden was under investigation for criminal tax matters.
The whistleblowers allege that Lowell falsely claimed in a letter to Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz that Shapley and Ziegler had disclosed "grand jury and taxpayer information" through multiple nationally-televised interviews, which Lowell considered a "clear-cut" crime not protected by any whistleblower statute or other federal law.
They are each suing Lowell for at least $10 million.
Winston & Strawn LLP, Lowell's law firm, was contacted by Planet Chronicle Digital for comment, but they were unable to obtain a response.
The Biden probe, which began in 2018, was investigated by Shapley, who led the IRS' portion of the probe, and Ziegler, a 13-year special agent within the IRS' Criminal Investigation Division, who alleged political influence surrounding prosecutorial decisions throughout the investigation.
Last year, Delaware U.S. attorney David Weiss' sweetheart deal with Hunter Biden fell apart after concerns were raised by Shapley and Ziegler.
The investigation's subject benefited from every decision made during the probe, according to Shapley.
Biden should have been charged with a tax felony instead of a misdemeanor, and investigators' review of communications and text messages may contradict what Biden said about not being involved in Hunter's overseas business dealings.
Ziegler claimed that federal investigators failed to follow standard procedures, delayed the investigation, and imposed excessive approvals and obstacles, hindering their investigation of the case. Additionally, prosecutors allegedly prevented certain questioning and interviews with Biden's adult children.
Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to nine tax charges without negotiating a deal with prosecutors, opting for an "open plea" where a judge would decide on sentencing.
President Biden's son was charged with three felonies and six misdemeanors by Weiss for not paying $1.4 million in owed taxes, which have since been paid. Weiss claimed that Hunter engaged in a pattern of filing false tax returns while not paying his federal income taxes.
In the indictment, Weiss claimed that Hunter had engaged in a four-year scheme to evade paying at least $1.4 million in federal taxes owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from January 2017 to October 15, 2020, and had filed false returns for tax year 2018.
Until the sentencing date of Dec. 16, Hunter Biden is free on bond and faces a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison.
Planet Chronicle’ Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.
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