Empower Oversight confirms FBI has sent nearly $4 million in back pay to bureau whistleblowers

Whistleblower nonprofit Empower Oversight said Wednesday that the FBI has sent nine bureau whistleblowers a total of nearly $4 million in back pay so far as part of a settlement the FBI reached with the whistleblowers last year. 

FBI Director Kash Patel announced in August that his agency was settling a string of whistleblower cases that were sparked under the Biden administration. The whistleblowers claimed that they were discriminated against for their political beliefs, including by suspending or revoking their security clearances. 

The nonprofit said one of their clients still has not had their case resolved and the client is still facing reprisal from career FBI executives for reporting their gross waste and abuse to new FBI leadership.

The client whose case is still outstanding has been described as a senior official targeted by the bureau's former deputy director during the Biden Administration for seeking a religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

“After we forced action to secure their settlements last year, it’s unacceptable that these whistleblowers had to endure further delay before receiving the back pay they earned," Empower Oversight President Tristan Leavitt said in a statement. 

"Nothing can fully undo years lost to illegal reprisals, but we are grateful to Senator [Chuck] Grassley, President Trump, the Justice Department and the Weaponization Working Group for beginning to make amends to these patriots," he continued. "We will keep working to resolve the one remaining case in good faith and demand accountability.”

The nonprofit said last year's settlements depended on the accusations but that none of them required resignations, though four helped facilitate retirement. All the settlements included some form of monetary compensation and four required full restoration of back pay and benefits. Three settlements required the FBI to return the employees to duty.