White House Promotes 2 IRS Whistleblowers Who Exposed Tax Agency’s Favoritism for Hunter Biden

Hunter Biden was prosecuted and convicted for three felony and three misdemeanor tax offenses.

Whistleblowers IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley (L) and IRS Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler swear before the Full Committee on Oversight and Accountability at a hearing about the Biden Criminal Investigation at the U.S. Congress in Washington on July 19, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Two IRS agents who risked their careers by blowing the whistle on the tax agency’s treatment of former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, are being promoted to top jobs in the Treasury Department, according to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley is being promoted to deputy chief of IRS Criminal Investigations, while Special Agent Joseph Ziegler is promoted to senior adviser for IRS reform. Both men will work from the office of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

“Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler put their entire careers on the line to stand up for the truth, and instead of being thanked, the Biden administration treated them like skunks at a picnic,” Grassley said in a statement announcing the promotions.

“Far too many whistleblowers share a similar experience of retaliation. I hope today is the first of many redemption stories for whistleblowers who’ve been mistreated.”

Grassley’s announcement comes during Sunshine Week, a period during which many members of the news media celebrate the birthday of Bill of Rights author and former President James Madison, the passage of the federal Freedom of Information Act in 1966, and the Whistleblower Protection Act in 1989.

In a statement released by Empower Oversight, the nonprofit government watchdog that defended Shapley, the two whistleblowers thanked Grassley and Bessent for coming to their aid following their public disclosures of information about IRS leniency for Hunter Biden during a tax-evasion investigation.

“We are enormously grateful to Secretary Bessent and Senator Grassley and all of the members of Congress for their leadership. We have been motivated by one singular mantra: Do what’s right,” Shapley and Ziegler said.

“It’s never been easy, and there have been more pitfalls than one would hope, but we appreciate the opportunity Secretary Bessent is giving us to utilize our skills and firsthand knowledge of the agency to further the work of the administration to root out waste and fraud from the federal government and make a difference.”

After coming across evidence that he and Shapley would later disclose to Congress, Ziegler opened an official criminal tax investigation. He believed the evidence pointed to tax evasion and possible links to prostitution rings. When he requested documents and interviews, he encountered increasing resistance from IRS higher-ups and the Department of Justice.

After Shapley became Ziegler’s supervisor in the IRS, they reported that the case was being slow-walked, especially by avoiding charging decisions in jurisdictions overseen by Biden administration DOJ appointees. In several cases, they determined that Hunter Biden’s name had been removed from search warrants.

As the evidence of tax evasion and related offenses connected to Hunter Biden grew without any prosecutorial actions, the whistleblowers turned their evidence over to Congress, including Grassley’s judiciary panel and the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). The two whistleblowers also appealed to the Inspector General for Tax Administration and the Department of Justice inspector general.

Things then went rapidly downhill for both men.

The Internal Revenue Service in Washington on March 10, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

“After a tense October 2022 meeting where Shapley confronted Weiss about case mishandling, DOJ demanded the IRS remove both agents from the investigation. The IRS complied in May 2023, sidelining Shapley and Ziegler despite their stellar records. Shapley was passed over for a prestigious Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5) leadership role he was uniquely qualified for, while both faced marginalization, reduced duties, and a ‘cascading series of retaliatory actions,’” a statement from Empower Oversight says.

Hunter Biden was eventually prosecuted and convicted for three felony and three misdemeanor tax offenses. President Joe Biden pardoned his son before the sentencing took place.

“After 20 months of investigation, the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) recently found the IRS had illegally gagged and retaliated against the whistleblowers. OSC determined that IRS gag orders violated federal law by omitting required language protecting whistleblower rights to speak to Congress or inspectors general,” the statement said.

Shapley and Ziegler are suing Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, for defamation, claiming Lowell made public statements the whistleblowers consider to be defamatory.

Lowell did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

Officials from the IRS and TIGTA did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment. A DOJ spokesman referred The Epoch Times to the IRS.