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Ten FBI Whistleblowers Reach Settlements After Retaliation Under Biden Administration

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August 27, 2025
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Ten FBI Whistleblowers Reach Settlements After Retaliation Under Biden Administration

Ten FBI whistleblowers who reported instances of “political weaponization” inside the bureau under the Biden-Harris administration have reached settlement agreements with the Justice Department.

Officials announced Tuesday that the whistleblowers will receive lump sum payments for damages, with some also receiving back pay, benefits, and reinstatement to duty.

“These 10 whistleblowers’ brave actions were met with intense bureaucratic blowback that caused severe financial and emotional hardship,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement.

“Their lives were upended for years, but I never stopped fighting until things were made right.”

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Grassley credited Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy Director Dan Bongino for advancing the cases.

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“I appreciate Attorney General [Pam] Bondi, Deputy Attorney General [Todd] Blanche, Director [Kash] Patel and Deputy Director [Dan] Bongino’s unyielding efforts to prioritize accountability and bring closure to these whistleblowers’ cases,” Grassley said.

According to Grassley’s office, the whistleblowers had been subjected to demotions, indefinite unpaid administrative leave, and security clearance revocations, collectively amounting to “over 12 years’ worth of inappropriate suspension time.”

The whistleblowers were represented by the legal nonprofit Empower Oversight.

In a March 5 letter to the FBI’s general counsel, the organization outlined what it described as “reprisal” and “improper targeting” against the agents, while expressing a willingness to “amicably resolve and remedy the harms the FBI has inflicted on our clients.”

Stephen Friend
FBI Special Agent Stephen Friend was indefinitely suspended without pay and had his security clearance revoked after objecting to the use of a SWAT team to arrest a January 6 defendant on a misdemeanor charge.

Friend argued the subject had been cooperative in the past and warned that the operation risked the safety of both the public and FBI personnel. He was sent home on the day of the arrest but was recorded as absent without leave.

Garret O’Boyle
FBI Special Agent Garret O’Boyle, who worked at the Critical Incident Response Group in Virginia, was suspended without pay and had his clearance pulled after being accused of leaking information related to an investigation involving Project Veritas and of improperly accessing FBI files.

Empower Oversight later determined O’Boyle “simply provided information about Project Veritas to another FBI employee and had only accessed FBI files as part of protected whistleblowing to Congress beginning in 2021.”

His clearance was revoked anyway following an additional claim that he mishandled classified information while transferring work materials from his previous post in Wichita, Kansas.

Zachery Schoffstall
Supervisory Special Agent Zachery Schoffstall, based in Idaho, reported what he described as Department of Justice “misconduct” in an investigation involving the white supremacist group Patriot Front.

Schoffstall stated the probe appeared politically motivated. He refused to sign a search warrant affidavit against Patriot Front, or assign another agent to do so, after learning of exculpatory evidence.

He was reassigned to West Virginia and proposed for removal from the bureau.

Monica Shillingburg
FBI employee Monica Shillingburg disclosed what she described as “gross mismanagement” and “gross waste of funds,” tied to changes in how the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) appeals were handled.

She argued the new process would worsen backlogs and increase the chance of an improper gun sale.

According to Empower Oversight, her concerns were later “proven correct.” Shillingburg was reassigned, stripped of responsibilities, and denied telework.

Michael Zummer
Special Agent Michael Zummer, from the New Orleans Division, reported misconduct in the prosecution of a district attorney charged with sex crimes.

According to Empower Oversight, Zummer was blocked from informing the court about conflicts of interest between prosecutors and the DA’s defense attorney.

The case ended in a plea deal for harassment of a witness, with a maximum three-year sentence, despite authorization for more serious charges including RICO.

Zummer’s clearance was suspended and later revoked when he reported the conflicts.

Several of the other whistleblowers who secured settlements have not been identified publicly.

Empower Oversight leaders Jason Foster and Tristan Leavitt wrote to Grassley that “for each of these cases where whistleblowers finally received at least some measure of justice for the retaliation they faced just for telling the truth about wrongdoing, there are many more who still need a remedy.”

They added, “[T]here are more who still have no remedy and no justice. The work to combat weaponization and whistleblower retaliation is far from over.”

The group noted that each settlement varied, but “none required any resignations as a condition of the agreement” and “all include lump sum payments for damages.”

Three whistleblowers—Friend, O’Boyle, and Schoffstall—will also return to duty with restored pay and benefits.



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