Hunter Biden sued the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Monday alleging that its agents “targeted and sought to embarrass” him when discussing his private tax information, violating his rights as a taxpayer.
The first son’s lawsuit alleges that former IRS officials violated Hunter Biden’s right to keep his tax information confidential when they testified to Congress and reporters that believed an investigation into Hunter Biden had been mishandled, Though the lawsuit alleges claims against two former IRS officials, the litigation does not list the agents as defendants in the suit. (RELATED: DOJ Rebukes Hunter Biden’s Lawyers, Denies ‘Sweetheart’ Immunity Agreement Is Valid)
“Biden has no fewer or lesser rights than any other American citizen, and no government agency or government agent has free reign to violate his rights simply because of who he is,” the lawsuit says.
“Two IRS agents—Mr. Gary Shapley and Mr. Joseph Ziegler—and their attorneys raised the stakes to unprecedented levels with their numerous public appearances and statements that blatantly violated Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code by engaging in a campaign to publicly smear Mr. Biden,” the lawsuit continues.
U.S. President Joe Biden embraces his family after he was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States during his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. During today’s inauguration ceremony Biden becomes the 46th president of the United States. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley told CBS News in May that the Department Of Justice (DOJ) “slow-walked” an investigation into Hunter Biden. Joseph Ziegler, a gay Democrat and an IRS whistleblower, said in July that he believed Hunter Biden “received preferential treatment” during the investigation process.
“Anyone who has read or listened to the two IRS whistleblowers’ testimony knows that they are upstanding, concerned citizens without a political agenda,” the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability said in a statement. “Both have worked at the IRS for over a decade on some of the biggest tax crime cases in our country’s history. What they witnessed while working on the Hunter Biden criminal investigation was a ‘corrosion of ethical standards and the abuse of power that threaten our nation.’ They have brought forward serious allegations of politicization and misconduct by DOJ officials.”
Hunter Biden reportedly sued a former President Donald Trump aide over data found on his laptop last week. The lawsuit alleged that the aide violated laws against fraud and hacking and that the aide and his team manipulated and altered some of the data on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Hunter Biden was indicted on Sept. 14 on felony gun charges in Delaware, facing a maximum prison sentence of ten years for his first and third offenses, while the second offense holds a maximum of five years. The first son pled not guilty in July to two tax misdemeanors after his plea deal and diversion agreement fell apart after it faced scrutiny from U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, causing a disagreement between Hunter Biden’s legal team and the DOJ.
“This suit against the IRS is just another frivolous smear by Biden family attorneys trying to turn people’s attention away from Hunter Biden’s own legal problems and intimidate any current and future whistleblowers,” Shapley’s legal team said in a statement. “The federal judge in Delaware who oversaw the aborted plea deal shot down similar claims against the whistleblowers after they exposed the secret backroom deal between Hunter Biden and the Department of Justice.”
“Neither IRS SSA Gary Shapley nor his attorneys have ever released any confidential taxpayer information except through whistleblower disclosures authorized by statute,” the statement continued. “Once Congress released that testimony, like every American citizen, he has every right to discuss that public information.”