Help Whistleblowers Fight the Lies

Raised:

 USD $63,542

Campaign created by Tristan Leavitt

Campaign funds will be received by Empower Oversight

Help Whistleblowers Fight the Lies

Empower Oversight Whistleblowers & Research (Empower Oversight) represents many whistleblowers who get viciously attacked and defamed in retaliation for courageously reporting misconduct. 

For example, Empower Oversight helped IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Special Agent Joseph Ziegler legally blow the whistle on kid-glove treatment of the President's son, Hunter Biden, in a tax investigation. 

Biden Family lawyers quickly launched a well-funded campaign to smear these brave IRS whistleblowers, pushing the Biden Justice Department to prosecute them. Hunter Biden's attorneys have:

(1) falsely accused the whistleblowers of committing "a clear-cut crime";

(2) sued the IRS, falsely claiming that the whistleblowers released confidential tax information; and

(3) opposed, along with the IRS, Shapley's and Ziegler's right to join Biden's lawsuit against the IRS - which would enable them to defend themselves against the false smears spread by Biden's attorneys. https://nypost.com/2024/05/22/opinion/we-blew-the-whistle-on-hunter-biden-now-were-fighting-his-lies/

These intentionally false claims have damaged their reputations and ability to continue their stellar careers as IRS criminal investigators. The truth is that these IRS whistleblowers never publicly disclosed any confidential tax information that wasn't already made public by Congress, or by Hunter Biden himself. 

At Empower Oversight, we are experts in the laws protecting federal whistleblowers from retaliation in the workplace, but those laws do not stop retaliators from publicly smearing a whistleblower with lies. 

Defamation lawsuits are one way to fight for the truth, hold dishonest bullies accountable and deter others before they shamelessly lie about public servants who are just trying to do the right thing for the right reasons. 

However, this type of litigation is extremely specialized, difficult and expensive. 

Your tax deductible financial support of Empower Oversight's Fight the Lies Fund (#FightTheLies) will enable us to hire experts in defamation law to go after those who think they can falsely smear whistleblowers with no consequences. 

You will be helping people who choose to do the right thing no matter the cost to their own personal and professional reputation. You will be funding efforts to actually hold the retaliators accountable for a change. 

When potential whistleblowers see that it is possible to fight back and prevail, more brave people will have the courage to speak up and expose waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct. But, Empower Oversight can't fight these battles without your help. Every dollar of your tax deductible donation will go toward the fight for truth and accountability. 

Empower Oversight is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization dedicated to enhancing independent oversight of government and corporate wrongdoing. We have provided legal representation to whistleblowers from the FBI, IRS, Secret Service, Federal Air Marshal Service, and other government agencies to expose waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct. Empower Oversight is also committed to educating whistleblowers, journalists, members of Congress, Inspectors General, and other official institutions in order to increase whistleblower protections and whistleblower-driven investigations. 

If you prefer to mail a check instead of using the online form, please make checks payable to "Empower Oversight," write "Fight the Lies Fund" in the memo line, and mail to:

Empower Oversight
5109 82nd Street, Suite 7-1111
Lubbock, TX 79407

Go to https://empowr.us to learn more.




 

Recent Donations
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Kathryn Mackel
$ 20.00 USD
2 days ago

Anonymous Giver
$ 100.00 USD
2 days ago

Anonymous Giver
$ 100.00 USD
3 days ago

God bless the righteous freedom fighters.

Anonymous Giver
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Anonymous Giver
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Anonymous Giver
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Anonymous Giver
$ 20.00 USD
6 days ago

Integrity involves sacrifice

Anonymous Giver
$ 15.00 USD
6 days ago

Keep up the good fight!

MLS
$ 600.00 USD
6 days ago

Bonnie Sue Ross
$ 100.00 USD
7 days ago

Hope this helps you successfully fight the good fight. God speed...

Hilary Ward
$ 5.00 USD
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Anonymous Giver
$ 10.00 USD
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Bill
$ 25.00 USD
8 days ago

Anonymous Giver
$ 10.00 USD
9 days ago

Thanks for your Bravery!

Anonymous Giver
$ 20.00 USD
14 days ago

These IRS whistleblowers have faced unjust slander, and it is imperative that they receive their opportunity to present their case in court. Happy to support their pursuit of justice. God bless

T Powell
$ 5.00 USD
14 days ago

Not much but hope it helps

Rob Gouveia fan
$ 8.00 USD
18 days ago

Gwen Lemmon
$ 100.00 USD
23 days ago

You will know them by their fruits.

fbiwhistlestop
$ 20.00 USD
27 days ago

Heroes, people of integrity and conscience

Bradley Birkenfeld
$ 13833.54 USD
1 month ago

MATCHING DONATION

Updates

Hunter Biden's pardon truly places him above the law and could embolden attacks on IRS whistleblowers.

December 2nd, 2024

Hunter Biden may have been pardoned, but that doesn't mean the Bidens have given up the fight against the IRS whistleblowers.

Yesterday, President Joe Biden issued his son Hunter what may be the most sweeping presidential pardon in U.S. history, dating back to January 1, 2014 and covering all known and unknown crimes committed by Hunter Biden. His statement claimed the prosecution was nothing but political, falsely asserting: "No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter's cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son." Not only do the Bidens still want the public to believe that Hunter was unfairly targeted despite the overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing presented by Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler (to which Hunter himself pled guilty), they are pointing squarely back at Gary and Joe. 

Just the other week, we saw that Biden Family attorney Abbe Lowell is still spoiling for a fight. His response to SSA Shapley and SA Ziegler's defamation suit made clear that not only is he not chastened, he is doubling down on allegations of illegality in Gary and Joe's protected disclosures and subsequent interviews. He refers to them as "disgruntled employees" disappointed in the direction in which their investigation led, and as overzealous agents attempting to sully the Biden name by selectively leaking salacious details of their case.

If Hunter Biden is going to continue his crusade against the IRS whistleblowers, we need you to stand with Empower Oversight in defending against the lies. Since the recent ruling disallowing Gary and Joe from joining Hunter Biden's lawsuit against the IRS, this defamation case is their only remaining option for seeking accountability for those who have tried their best to tarnish Gary and Joe's reputations and have used their accusations to all but cause them to lose their jobs. 

In honor of #GivingTuesday, we are asking for your support for our efforts to push back against the corruption that Gary and Joe and so many other whistleblowers have fought to expose. Your contribution will help fund the efforts to pursue accountability, as well as provide us the opportunity to support and represent the whistleblowers who risk their livelihood and so much more to expose waste, fraud and abuse in our government. Thank you for your assistance in this ongoing endeavor. 

Catherine Herridge and Elon Musk Highlight IRS Whistleblower Defamation Suit

October 29th, 2024

This morning Emmy Award-winning investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge released an interview with SSA Shapley and SA Ziegler.


This morning Emmy Award-winning investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge released an interview with SSA Shapley and SA Ziegler. It highlights the retaliation against them and mentions their defamation suit, the first Empower Oversight is supporting with this fund. If you haven't seen the interview yet, you can find the interview here: https://catherineherridgereports.com/p/chr-post-title-will-go-here-c8bcaa6da057640a. If you *have* already seen the interview, please share it and help encourage others to go to DefendWhistleblowers.com to make their own donation. (Elon Musk's retweet on X is nearly up to 4 million views at this moment: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1851277287221817514.)

Together we can fight back against bullies and defend those who tell the truth!

Update Catherine Herridge and Elon Musk Highlight IRS Whistleblower Defamation Suit Image
D.C. Judge Ratchets Up Importance of Defamation Suit

October 3rd, 2024

Last week a judge rejected our request to defend against Hunter Biden's false charges.


Last fall Hunter Biden frivolously sued the IRS, claiming SSA Shapley and SA Ziegler committed a crime by blowing the whistle to Congress. In responding to the lawsuit, DOJ failed to even mention the tax whistleblower law Congress created to allow this exact type of situation. Thus, in May we moved to intervene to provide the accurate facts of SSA Shapley and SA Ziegler's whistleblowing. But last Friday the judge in that case rejected our request to join--relying in part on the fact that both DOJ and Hunter Biden have objected to us joining to defend the whistleblowers.

While we will continue to fight the false attacks against the whistleblowers, this makes the defamation lawsuit against Abbe Lowell the only litigation where the IRS whistleblowers have a seat at the table and a chance of being treated fairly. We need your help to keep this defamation lawsuit alive!

Your donation will also help us defend other whistleblowers. Earlier this year one newspaper published blatant lies about FBI whistleblower Marcus Allen which we got corrected, and we are working to get the Washington Post and NBC News to correct the record with their own readers about Marcus's security clearance being reinstated. But sometimes litigation is the only way to force bad actors to tell the truth.

With our matching donation pledge from IRS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld, we will be able to maximize every dollar donated. Thank you so much for your financial support, and for helping us hold wrongdoers accountable!

We Have a Matching Donor!

September 27th, 2024

Famed tax whistleblower has agreed to match $50k in donations!


So many thanks to Glenn Beck for hosting Tristan and SSA Shapley on his show, and giving this campaign a shout-out! (You can find it here around the 1:48:00 mark: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1tqaCuldEhYsOZ8Q5zqSPh?si=0wK34ig5RaeNfTthNM2e2g&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A3ljAZqaEXyT2MAC8hfO0cR&nd=1&dlsi=2071124f6ed64c38) We have raised $4,600 today after that appearance!


Also, we are so excited to announce that Bradley Birkenfeld has agreed to match $50,000 of donations to this campaign. (After Birkenfeld blew the whistle to the IRS on how Swiss banks were helping U.S. taxpayers evade taxes, the IRS awarded him $104 million in 2012 through its tax recovery whistleblower program. You can learn more about him at https://lucifersbanker.com.)

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