Press Release

Washington, D.C. — Empower Oversight today pressed for comprehensive records from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) related to hospice fraud and oversight failures across California — with a particular focus on Los Angeles County.  The records request targets widespread regulatory failures in the county. The letter request spans five broad categories asking for: …

WASHINGTON – Nearly $4 million in gross back pay promised to FBI whistleblowers has now been paid to Empower Oversight clients, resolving a group of nine cases settled in August 2025 after years of retaliation. The FBI still has yet to resolve one additional whistleblower case not in the original group of nine. That client—a …

Washington, D.C. — Empower Oversight has requested from the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) records related to the oversight and administration of the state’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), the subject of numerous reports of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. The request, filed pursuant to the Minnesota Data Practices Act, …

Empower Oversight president Tristan Leavitt made the following statement after Senator Rand Paul, Chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, released documents detailing the federal government’s investigation into Christine Crowder. Empower Oversight represents Christine and her husband Mark Crowder, a Senior Federal Air Marshal. “In 2022 Empower Oversight helped Mark and Christine …

For the complete statement, visit https://empowr.us/joint-statement/.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – IRS whistleblowers former Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Special Agent Joe Ziegler reached settlements with the IRS and Justice Department (DOJ) for illegal retaliation against them. The settlements included significant compensation for damages and a requirement for new training for federal prosecutors to deter future whistleblower retaliation. Shapley and Ziegler’s 84-page …

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS EXAMINING THE WEAPONIZATION OF THE QUIET SKIES PROGRAM SEPTEMBER 30, 2025  TESTIMONY OF TRISTAN LEAVITT PRESIDENT EMPOWER OVERSIGHT  Chairman Paul, Ranking Member Peters, and Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today. I was last before this Committee in 2021 when it considered my nomination to the …

Washington, D.C. – Empower Oversight is urging the U.S. Department of Education (DOEd) to finalize and release the investigative report required by a referral from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), which forwarded information from a whistleblower disclosing DOEd’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) had been violating federal court injunctions that limited the enforcement of …

WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight is applauding the historic resolution of eight whistleblower retaliation cases, which now resolves all 10 longstanding client disputes with the FBI, as outlined in the organization’s March 5 letter to the FBI General Counsel. The settlements represent more than 12 years of suspended days corrected by these agreements. “For each of …