IRS employees Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, together with D.C. attorney Abbe Lowell, have resolved the defamation case that Mr. Shapley and Mr. Ziegler filed against Mr. Lowell in federal district court in Washington, D.C. and that the court dismissed with prejudice.
While the Parties continue to have their disagreements about the matters in the lawsuit, they agree it is best to move on from litigation, and to dispense with any appeals, on the basis of the statements below, mutual releases from further litigation, and with no payment or other consideration from Mr. Lowell.
The Parties agree:
1. that the whistleblower provisions of 5 U.S.C. § 2302 and 26 U.S.C. § 6103 authorized Messrs. Shapley and Ziegler to make disclosures of otherwise confidential tax information about the investigation of Hunter Biden to the tax committees in Congress and to designated agents of those committees for the purpose of obtaining legal advice.
2. that, when speaking to the media, Messrs. Shapley and Ziegler believed they acted in good faith to follow the law and to limit their remarks to information that had already been lawfully disclosed by others, and if so, were not disclosing confidential information;
3. that, in his court filings and correspondence, Mr. Lowell believed that he made good faith legal arguments based on the case law and acted at all times appropriately to vigorously defend his client.
