WASHINGTON — Empower Oversight represents many whistleblowers who get viciously attacked and defamed in retaliation for courageously reporting misconduct, including IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Special Agent Joseph Ziegler who legally blew the whistle on kid-glove treatment of the President’s son, Hunter Biden, in a tax investigation.
Following the agents’ protected disclosures, Biden Family lawyers quickly launched a well-funded campaign to smear these brave IRS whistleblowers, pushing the Biden Justice Department to prosecute them.
Hunter Biden’s attorneys have:
- falsely accused the whistleblowers of committing “a clear-cut crime”;
- sued the IRS, falsely claiming that the whistleblowers released confidential tax information; and
- opposed, along with the IRS, Shapley’s and Ziegler’s right to join Biden’s lawsuit against the IRS—which would enable them to defend themselves against the false smears spread by Biden’s attorneys.
These intentionally false claims have damaged their reputations and ability to continue their stellar careers as IRS criminal investigators. The truth is that these IRS whistleblowers never publicly disclosed any confidential tax information that wasn’t already made public by Congress, or by Hunter Biden himself.
The Empower Oversight team members are experts in the laws protecting federal whistleblowers from retaliation in the workplace, but those laws do not stop retaliators from publicly smearing a whistleblower with lies.
Defamation lawsuits are one way to fight for the truth, hold dishonest bullies accountable and deter others before they shamelessly lie about public servants who are just trying to do the right thing for the right reasons.
However, this type of litigation is extremely specialized, difficult and expensive. Financial support of Empower Oversight’s Fight the Lies Fund will enable the organization to hire experts in defamation law to go after those who think they can falsely smear whistleblowers with no consequences.
Donations assist people who choose to do the right thing no matter the cost to their own personal and professional reputation. This fund is an opportunity to hold the retaliators accountable for a change.
When potential whistleblowers see that it is possible to fight back and prevail, more brave people will have the courage to speak up and expose waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct. Empower Oversight can’t fight these battles without help. Every dollar of a donation will go toward the fight for truth and accountability.
Help Gary and Joe fight the lies.
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