An insider at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has revealed himself by name for the first time after filing an anonymous whistleblower disclosure about the agency’s handling of an alleged investigation into President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
Attorney Mark D. Lytle of Nixon Peabody LLP revealed the whistleblower complaint in an April 19 letter (pdf) to members of Congress. Since then, Lytle and the whistleblower advocacy group Empower Oversight have alleged retaliation against the then-unnamed IRS agent.
In an interview with CBS News that aired on Wednesday night, the IRS whistleblower revealed himself as Gary Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the agency.
Shapley, who identified himself as an IRS supervisory special agent, told CBS News that he was assigned to the investigation in January of 2020. In the latest CBS interview, Shapley said he could not specifically identify the subject of the investigation due to tax secrecy laws.
Neither Shapley nor his legal representatives have directly named Hunter Biden as the subject of what they’ve called an “ongoing and sensitive investigation of a high-profile, controversial subject.” However, Empower Oversight has retweeted a CBS News report that named the president’s son as the subject of the investigation.
In December of 2020, Hunter Biden did confirm that the U.S. Attorney’s office in Delaware had been investigating his taxes.
“I take this matter very seriously, but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors,” Hunter Biden said at the time.
“First of all, my son has done nothing wrong,” the president said in an interview earlier this month. “I trust him. I have faith in him.”
By Ryan Morgan
