An Internal Revenue Service investigator sued the agency this month, claiming officials illegally leaked his confidential personnel records to federal prosecutors to punish him for years of whistle-blowing on the agency’s failure to tackle tax dodging.
Brian J. Visalli, a 24-year I.R.S. veteran, specializes in investigating complex offshore tax shelters. He has publicly criticized the agency, writing articles about its unwillingness to aggressively target schemes that multinational companies use to skirt their taxes. He says the I.R.S. is using relatively small mistakes in his personal tax return to retaliate against him.
The suit claims the I.R.S. illegally disclosed his employee and tax information to Justice Department prosecutors to discredit and fire him. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois. Mr. Visalli’s investigations included a probe into Malta pension plans, a tax-dodging strategy used by wealthy Americans.
In late summer 2024, Mr. Visalli filed a whistle-blower retaliation complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. He said an assistant U.S. attorney told him that Justice Department Tax Division personnel were describing him as “impaired” based on Giglio v. the United States, which requires prosecutors to disclose past evidence of dishonesty by a law enforcement official.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing