An American-born cryptocurrency investor known as “Bitcoin Jesus” has been indicted on charges of defrauding Uncle Sam of $48 million in taxes, the Justice Department announced.
Roger Ver, a billionaire Bitcoin investor from California who renounced his US citizenship in 2014 and became a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis, was arrested in Spain over the weekend. According to Justice Department officials.
Mr. Ver, who has previously said money laundering should not be considered a crime, was charged with mail fraud and filing false tax returns.
US will seek extradition 45 years old version after being arraigned in Los Angeles federal court on Tuesday.
Mr. Ver’s lawyer, Brian Skarlatos, told the Post he was “very disappointed and surprised” that his client was arrested while traveling in Spain.
“Mr. Ver relies on top-notch tax experts to help him report Bitcoin and always intended to be in full compliance with his U.S. tax obligations,” Skarlatos said.
“We look forward to proving his innocence in court, if necessary.”
His indictment came on the same day that Qiao Changpeng, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, was sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to money laundering last year.
In 2014, Barr defended Charlie Shrem after the co-founder of the now-defunct BitInstant was indicted on money laundering charges. Shrem was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison.
“It’s just that certain guys with guns decide that because they don’t like what other people are doing with their money, it’s OK to lock them up in cages.” Ver told The Verge.
“Even if everything the government claims is true, Charlie has done nothing morally wrong.”
By law, people who renounce their U.S. citizenship must file tax returns reporting capital gains from the sale of assets, including Bitcoin.
Barr was also legally required to pay an “exit tax” on his capital gains.
Prosecutors argued that Mr. Vaa had renounced his citizenship for tax purposes.
Specifically, when someone renounces their citizenship, their property is treated as having been sold at fair market value through a “constructive sale” the day before they renounce their citizenship.
Under federal tax law, any gain arising from that “constructive sale” must be accounted for in that tax year.
On the day he became a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Ver and the two companies he owned, MemoryDealers.com and Agilestar.com, held approximately 131,000 Bitcoins, and at the time each had approximately 871 It was traded in US dollars and was valued at more than $114 million.
According to prosecutors, Barr hired a law firm to help him prepare tax returns related to his overseas immigration and valuations for his company, but the amount of virtual currency he actually owns remains unclear. He allegedly provided false or misleading information to the law firm.
Mr. Ver’s law firm allegedly prepared and filed tax returns that undervalued both companies and their Bitcoin.
The declaration also did not state that Mr. Ver personally owned the digital currency, as alleged in the indictment.
Barr later regained ownership of 70,000 bitcoins owned by both companies and sold them in 2017 for about $240 million, according to the indictment.
But prosecutors said he failed to pay taxes on distributions from those two U.S. companies.
According to the indictment, the Internal Revenue Service forfeited a total of $48 million in taxes from 2014 to 2017.
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