Biden's son Hunter sues IRS, alleges unlawful release of his taxes
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[September 19, 2023]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden's son Hunter
Biden sued the U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Monday, alleging
unlawful disclosure of his taxes by whistleblowers who work for the U.S.
tax agency.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia,
focused on statements made by IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler
in media interviews amid a long-running investigation by House of
Representatives Republicans into the younger Biden's taxes and business
dealings.
Hunter Biden, 53, is at the center of a political maelstrom, as House
Republicans mount an impeachment inquiry against his father focused on
alleged ties between his business practices and his father's policies
during his father's tenure as vice president from 2009 to 2017. They
have so far presented no evidence showing that the elder Biden profited
from his son's businesses. The White House has denied any wrongdoing.
Hunter Biden is the first child of a sitting U.S. president to have been
criminally indicted. Prosecutors last week charged him with three counts
related to the fact that he was lying about using illegal drugs when he
bought a firearm. Hunter Biden and prosecutors earlier had reached a
plea deal over tax and gun charges, but it collapsed.
Monday's lawsuit refers to "more than 20 nationally televised and
non-congressionally sanctioned interviews and numerous public
statements" by Shapley, Ziegler and their lawyers about Hunter Biden.
Shapley and Ziegler have testified in Congress as whistleblowers about
alleged political interference in an IRS investigation into Biden's
taxes. The Justice Department has denied any such interference.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Sep/19/images/ads/current/ldn_sda_NILA_012823.png)
"The lawsuit is about the decision by IRS employees, their
representatives, and others to disregard their obligations and
repeatedly and intentionally publicly disclose and disseminate Mr.
Biden's protected tax return information outside the exceptions for
making disclosures in the law," the lawsuit reads.
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![](../images/091923PIX/news_y18.jpg)
Hunter Biden walks to the motorcade after arriving at Fort McNair,
after U.S. President Joe Biden spent the weekend at Camp David, in
Washington, U.S., July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Julia Nikhinson/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jul/22/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png)
Biden is seeking $1,000 for each unauthorized disclosure of his tax
return information, a declaration from the IRS, a data security plan
from the agency, production of documents related to Biden's taxes
and other relief.
"This suit against the IRS is just another frivolous smear by Biden
family attorneys trying to turn people's attention away from Hunter
Biden's own legal problems and intimidate any current and future
whistleblowers," Shapley's legal team said in a statement.
"The efforts by the Biden family lawyers to silence Mr. Ziegler and
other IRS employees will not succeed," a lawyer for Ziegler said in
a statement.
The IRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee called the lawsuit
"intimidation" in a post on social media.
Hunter Biden last week also filed a lawsuit against a former White
House aide during Donald Trump's presidency over the aide's alleged
role in the publication of embarrassing images and emails.
Trump, who has cheered on the impeachment inquiry, was the first
U.S. president to be impeached twice. The Senate acquitted him both
times. Trump also has been charged in four criminal cases this year.
(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Scott Malone and Will Dunham)
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