Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

‘Tells You Everything You Need To Know’: Hunter Biden Drops Lawsuit Against IRS

Center for Strategic & International Studies/Wikimedia Commons

Hunter Biden voluntarily dismissed his civil lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Wednesday, handing a victory to two IRS agents who alleged a massive effort by the Biden administration to slow walk the investigation into the financial affairs of the former president’s son.

Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, the two IRS whistleblowers, came forward in 2023 alleging that the Department of Justice (DOJ) was obstructing the ongoing probe into Hunter Biden’s taxes and business dealings with overseas interests. Hunter Biden subsequently sued the IRS in September 2023, arguing that Shapley and Ziegler sought to deliberately publicize his tax information to embarrass him.

“It’s always been clear that the lawsuit was an attempt to intimidate us. However, we were always motivated by doing the right thing, defending our work, and honoring our duty to the American people. Intimidation and retaliation were never going to work,” Shapley and Ziegler said in a statement. “We truly wanted our day in court to provide the complete story, but it appears Mr. Biden was afraid to actually fight this case in a court of law after all. His voluntary dismissal of the case tells you everything you need to know about who was right and who was wrong.”

Hunter Biden Filing by Nick Pope on Scribd

The attorneys representing Ziegler and Shapley noted that Hunter Biden dismissed his suit with prejudice, meaning that he cannot bring the same lawsuit again in the future. Hunter Biden ultimately pled guilty to felony tax charges in federal court in September 2024, several months after he was convicted on felony gun charges in June 2024.

Both whistleblowers have said that they faced retaliation for speaking out against what they claim was the weaponization of government to benefit a politically-connected individual.

Former President Joe Biden gave Hunter Biden a blanket pardon for any crime or potential criminal activity he may have committed going back to 2014. This is the same year he started working for Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company. The former president issued similarly expansive pardons for five other family members in the waning moments of his presidency on Inauguration Day in January.