Ten FBI whistleblowers who faced years of professional and personal upheaval after reporting internal misconduct have reached significant settlement agreements with the bureau, according to announcements made on August 27, 2025. The deals mark a rare moment of restitution for federal employees who challenged the system from within, with the support of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and legal nonprofit Empower Oversight. The agreements come after months of negotiations and years of advocacy, and they collectively address more than 12 years of inappropriate suspensions, demotions, and loss of income suffered by the whistleblowers.
The whistleblowers, including Special Agents Garret O’Boyle, Stephen Friend, and Supervisory Special Agent Zachery Schoffstall, were among those who reported what they described as waste, fraud, abuse, and political weaponization within the FBI during the previous administration. Their disclosures, intended to expose wrongdoing and improve agency operations, instead triggered a wave of punitive actions by the bureau. According to Empower Oversight, the whistleblowers endured demotions, security clearance revocations, and indefinite unpaid administrative leave—measures that left them financially stranded and professionally sidelined.
“Whistleblowers risk it all for the sake of simply telling the truth. These 10 whistleblowers’ brave actions were met with intense bureaucratic blowback that caused severe financial and emotional hardship. Their lives were upended for years, but I never stopped fighting until things were made right,” Senator Grassley said in a statement. He went on to thank Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy Director Dan Bongino for their “unyielding efforts to prioritize accountability and bring closure to these whistleblowers’ cases.”
The settlements, detailed in a letter from Empower Oversight to Grassley, differ slightly based on each whistleblower’s circumstances. However, all ten agreements share key elements: none required resignations as a condition, all include lump sum payments for damages, and several involve voluntary retirements. Four of the settlements require full restoration of back pay and benefits, including interest, as mandated by the Back Pay Act. This ensures that the employees are financially restored to the positions they would have held had they not been subjected to what Empower Oversight described as “unjustified or unwarranted personnel action.” The agreements also stipulate that all back pay and benefits must be calculated and paid within 30 days of the employee returning to work and providing necessary information.
Three whistleblowers—O’Boyle, Friend, and Schoffstall—will be returned to active duty as part of the settlements. The other agreements either facilitate voluntary retirements or otherwise compensate the whistleblowers for the years of lost income and professional advancement. According to Empower Oversight, “Each of the agreements differ slightly depending on each employee’s particular situation, case, and circumstances. Of these eight settlement agreements: None required any resignations as a condition of the agreement. Four involve or facilitate voluntary retirements. All include lump sum payments for damages. Four require full restoration of back pay and benefits.”
The cases of the individual whistleblowers reveal the breadth and depth of the retaliation they faced. Special Agent Stephen Friend was suspended indefinitely without pay and had his security clearance revoked after he objected to the use of a SWAT team to arrest a January 6 riot defendant on a misdemeanor charge. Friend warned that the operation posed risks to public safety and FBI personnel, especially since the subject had been cooperative. Despite his concerns, Friend was sent home on the day of the operation and later recorded as absent without leave.
Special Agent Garret O’Boyle, who had relocated his family from Wichita to Virginia for a new position, was accused of leaking information related to an investigation involving Project Veritas and improperly accessing FBI files. However, Empower Oversight clarified that 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.” Despite this, his security clearance was suspended based on additional claims of mishandling classified information when transferring work materials between offices.
Supervisory Special Agent Zachery Schoffstall, based in Idaho, disclosed Department of Justice (DOJ) misconduct related to an investigation of members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front. Schoffstall refused to sign a search warrant affidavit he believed was politically motivated and declined to assign another agent to sign it, despite pressure from FBI executives. As a result, he was removed from his position, temporarily reassigned, and proposed for removal from the FBI. Schoffstall must now be rehired as part of the settlement.
Other whistleblowers included in the settlement, such as Monica Shillingburg and Michael Zummer, reported gross mismanagement and prosecutorial misconduct, respectively. Shillingburg raised alarms over potentially illegal changes to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) appeals process, warning that the changes could increase the likelihood of improper gun sales—a concern later validated. Zummer reported conflicts of interest in a sex crimes prosecution, only to have his security clearance suspended and revoked.
The whistleblowers’ experiences were not isolated. Several testified before the House Judiciary Committee’s weaponization panel in 2023, bringing national attention to their claims of reprisal and improper targeting by the FBI under the Biden administration. According to Empower Oversight, “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.”
Senator Grassley has long been a champion of whistleblower protections, having co-founded and co-chaired the Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus. In July 2025, he introduced the bipartisan FBI Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act to further strengthen protections for FBI employees facing security clearance suspensions. The recent settlements represent the third round of whistleblower agreements Grassley has helped secure this year, following successful advocacy for Internal Revenue Service and Customs and Border Protection whistleblowers.
Empower Oversight, in its letter to Grassley, emphasized the importance of continued vigilance and support for whistleblowers. “Your leadership and advocacy for whistleblower protections were essential both publicly and behind the scenes. Without your office, these brave whistleblowers would almost certainly not have received a fair hearing,” the organization wrote. “On behalf of our clients, their families, and the Americans who advocated for them—thank you.”
While the settlements offer closure and compensation for the ten whistleblowers, both Empower Oversight and Grassley acknowledge that systemic challenges remain. Many federal employees who report wrongdoing still face retaliation, and the work to combat weaponization and protect truth-tellers is, as Empower Oversight put it, “far from over.”
For these ten individuals, however, the agreements mark a hard-fought victory—and a sign that, at least sometimes, the system can be made to work for those who risk everything to make it better.
