IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler crushed Hunter Biden's lover's deals on tax crimes before being subsequently kicked out of the case and expelled, but were promoted to the leadership position of the Treasury Department.
That's sweet evidence for a veteran investigator who has endured two years of retaliation since blowing away the whisper of political interference in the criminal investigation of his former firstborn.
Shapley and Ziegler will begin work this week as senior advisors to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, leading tax reform for 12 months, then transitioning to senior IRS leadership roles to implement the plan.
“Promoting the truth”
“This is a victory for all the whistleblowers out there,” says Ziegler, the lead investigator in the five-year, troubled Hunter Biden case in Delaware. “Gary and I will continue to do everything in our power to promote truth, promote whistleblowers, and eliminate bad actors who have influenced democracy.”
His former supervisor agent, Shapley said, “We are in a great position to help the administration carry out that goal. The winner will be Americans.”
Bessent said:
“These veteran civil servants can join us and provide a more effective and efficient IRS experience for American taxpayers to help agents focus on collections, modernization and customer service. [Iowa] Senator [Chuck] Grassley's efforts in Congress to help protect whistleblowers to instill a culture of transparency, accountability and retaliation. ”
Praising the men's “courage, courage, expertise and integrity,” Grassley states that their promotion “will send a clear signal that it is honorable to point out cheating.”
Grassley last month in a private letter to Bescent, urging him to place two whistleblowers in leadership positions in the IRS.
Shapley and Ziegler were removed from the Hunter Biden case in December 2022 after informing the IRS boss that then-U.S. lawyer David Weiss was obstructing the investigation and obstructing a search warrant before the restriction law expired on the most serious charges (including the cottage of investigators in the search for Joe Biden's then-dead-delaware Esther search).
The man nominated six IRS executives. They say they retaliated against them and should be disciplined for official complaints to the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Last month, the Federal Whistleblower Protection Agency, the Special Adviser Bureau, discovered that the IRS had falsely retaliated against Shapley and Ziegler.
“Gary and Joe have never been motivated by praise, a fundamental desire to do the right thing,” whistleblower lawyers Tristan Leavitt and Jason Foster said the empowerment of surveillance.
“Work life has become hell”
Shapley and Ziegler “are isolated, frozen from career progression, and obsessively scrutinized,” Foster says. “Work life has become hell.”
He paid tribute to Bescent for his “willingness to lead these two brave whistleblowers to leadership positions within the agency.”
“The opportunity that Secretary Becent has provided them will help them use their deep skillset and understand how the IRS works from top to bottom, helping them to solve some of the fascinating issues within the agency.”
Foster also praised Grassley, who has never wavered from his support for Gary and Joe. [House committee] Chairman [Jason] Smith [Missouri], [James] Comer [Kentucky] and [Jim] Jordan [Ohio] I did it to help them use their skills to help them manage. ”
After his lover's contract fell apart, the 55-year-old Hunter was charged with tax fraud in California, and last year he pleaded guilty and was convicted by a ju judge in Delaware.
His father forgave him in December for a crime he may have committed since January 1, 2014.
