Hunter Biden sues IRS whistleblowers for BREACH OF PRIVACY over tax probe

By lauraharris // 2023-09-22

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Presidential son Hunter Biden has sued two Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblowers for allegedly violating his privacy rights. The 27-page lawsuit filed on Sept. 18 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia named IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler as plaintiffs. The two whistleblowers appeared before Congress and the media, accusing the Department of Justice (DOJ) of deliberately delaying and obstructing the investigation of Hunter's case. The younger Biden's lawsuit focused on testimonies by the two defendants before the House Ways and Means Committee (WMC) in relation to its probe into his tax deals. Shapley and Ziegler reportedly disclosed information during their testimony about their concerns of how Hunter's criminal inquiry was handled. According to the presidential son's legal team, the said information must be kept confidential under federal law. The lawsuit alleged that the IRS whistleblowers and their attorneys "willfully disregarded federal tax law, undermining Americans' faith in the IRS and the purported confidentiality of its investigations." It also lamented the "assault" on the presidential son's rights, involved the public disclosure of his confidential tax information" on national TV. "[Hunter] Biden has no fewer or lesser rights than any other American citizen, and no government agency or government agent has free [rein] to violate his rights simply because of who he is." The younger Biden's legal team called for a federal judge to declare that the IRS' disclosure of their client's tax information was unlawful. They also asked for Hunter to be awarded $1,000 for "each and every unauthorized disclosure of his tax return information." Moreover, they also requested that the court issue an order mandating the tax agency to "formulate, adopt, and implement a data security plan that satisfies the requirements of the Privacy Act."

Shapley's attorneys dismiss Hunter lawsuit as 'frivolous smear'

"This lawsuit is not about the proper workings of the whistleblower statute and process, nor an official using those procedures properly to make disclosures to authorized government officials," wrote Abbe Lowell, lawyer for the presidential son. (Related: IRS whistleblower who revealed how DOJ slow-walked Hunter Biden tax probe TESTIFIES before Congress.) "Rather, the lawsuit is about the decision by IRS employees, their representatives and others to disregard their obligations and repeatedly and intentionally publicly disclose and disseminate [Hunter] Biden's protected tax return information outside the exceptions for making disclosures in the law." Under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (IRC), IRS employees are generally prohibited from disclosing tax return information, with criminal and civil penalties for violations. However, there is a crucial exception to this edict. The chairpersons of congressional tax-writing committees – the House WMC for the lower chamber and the Senate Finance Committee for the upper chamber – can request any taxpayer information from the IRS. They can also make this information public, if the rest of the committee votes for it. Earlier this year, the House WMC voted to publish transcripts of interviews with the IRS employees in the Hunter Biden case. Incidentally, the House WMC used the same section of the IRC to publish the tax returns of former President Donald Trump back when it was still under Democratic control. Shapley's lawyers labeled the Sept. 18 lawsuit as a "frivolous smear" that served to divert the attention away from the younger Biden's crimes. They also pointed to the lawsuit as a tactic to intimidate potential whistleblowers. Meanwhile, Dean Zerbe – Ziegler's legal counsel – vowed that his client would continue to speak out about the alleged special treatment given to Hunter Biden by the DOJ. Check out BidenCrimeFamily.news for more updates on the first family's illegal business dealings. Watch this clip from "The Pete Santilli Show" about Gary Shapley's revelations regarding the Hunter Biden tax probe. This video is from The Pete Santilli Show channel on Brighteon.com.

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Shapley's attorneys dismiss Hunter lawsuit as 'frivolous smear'

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