A whistleblower who came forward with allegations of misconduct in the Hunter Biden tax case is receiving brutal retaliation from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Whistleblower Gary Shapley conducted wan interview with investigative journalist Catherine Herridge about the Biden case. The interview, which went viral, propositioned the IRS to be even more punitive in its actions.
“Less than an hour after @C__Herridge posted this story yesterday about the retaliation against the IRS whistleblowers, the IRS sent SSA Shapley this notice telling him he had 15 days to choose whether to be demoted or to resign. (Apparently they were sitting on it for two weeks before the story.),” Tristan Leavitt, an attorney for Shapley said.
On October 15 the IRS sent a letter to Shapley notifying him that he will be reassigned from his supervisory special agent role in the criminal division to a senior analyst position. If Shapley does not accept the demotion and report for his new assignment, he can either request a lower level special-agent position or leave the agency.
On Thursday Leavitt wrote a letter to congress, addressed to House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R., Ky.), House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), and House Ways and Means Committee chairman Jason Smith (R., Mo.).
Leavitt laid out the alleged retaliation and lost professional opportunities Shapley has experienced since coming forward. Shapley’s attorneys have notified the U.S. office of special counsel (OSC) of the apparent actions taken against Shapley and are asking House Republicans to request a briefing on the situation.
“From the moment USA Weiss received access to SSA Shapley’s protected whistleblower disclosures and contacted IRS leadership, the IRS has treated SSA Shapley differently,” Leavitt wrote.
“Their illegal reprisal increased after SSA Shapley made clear he intended to blow the whistle to Congress and others. And it continues to this day, when the IRS knows it can retaliate against SSA Shapley simply by waiting out the clock for him to be forced into the position of resigning or being demoted” Leavitt added.
National Review notes that the U.S. office of special counsel is currently investigating alleged retaliation against Shapley and IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler. Leavitt said the OSC should intervene to prevent the apparent retaliation against Shapley and called for the agency to brief congress on the progress of its 17-month-long investigation.