Hunter Biden’s lawsuit over the public disclosure of his tax return information will move forward after a federal judge finds that the IRS might be liable for the actions of two whistleblowers’ lawyers.

As Law&Crime previously reported, Biden sued the IRS in September 2023, alleging that two agents, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, “completely disregarded their confidentiality obligations” and engaged in a “campaign to publicly smear” Biden through “unauthorized” disclosures of tax return information to media outlets, resulting in an “assault” on his privacy rights.

President Joe Biden’s son argued that Shapley and Ziegler directed their lawyers to publicly share Biden’s tax information, and were therefore subject to laws against disclosure.

The federal agency filed a motion to dismiss in February, arguing that Biden failed to show the agency’s alleged lack of “safeguards” to prevent two whistleblowers and their attorneys from disclosing his “confidential tax return information” in media interviews caused him to suffer “actual damages.” Lawyers for the IRS also argued that sovereign immunity protects the IRS against lawsuits over disclosures made by nonemployees of the federal government — in this case, lawyers for Shapley and Ziegler.