DOJ charges 'Bitcoin Jesus' with $48 million tax fraud, seeks extradition

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNBC

Published Wed, May 1 2024 11:15 AM EDT Updated 3 hours ago


The Justice Department unveiled criminal tax fraud charges this week against a prolific bitcoin investor named Roger Ver. He came to be known as “Bitcoin Jesus,” for getting in early on the digital currency and making a fortune. Ver allegedly evaded at least $48 million in taxes, according to the indictment announced Tuesday.

The indictment, filed in California federal court, claims that Ver executed the fraud scheme by failing to report a portion of the 131,000 bitcoin that he owned in 2014, when he renounced his U.S. citizenship after becoming a citizen of the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

At the time, each bitcoin was worth roughly $871. It was trading Wednesday morning at $57,416, which would make Ver’s 131,000 bitcoins worth more than $7.5 billion. Becoming a U.S. expat requires an individual to pay a special tax to the Internal Revenue Service. The DOJ alleges that in preparing those tax filings, Ver underrepresented his bitcoin holdings and evaded taxes on them.

The indictment further alleges that even after his expatriation from the U.S., Ver continued to underreport his bitcoin ownership, which he was still required to pay U.S. taxes on. Ver was arrested in Spain over the weekend. The United States is seeking his extradition to face trial on eight counts related to tax evasion, mail fraud and filing false tax returns.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/01/doj-charges-bitcoin-jesus-with-48-million-in-tax-fraud-seeks-extradition-.html

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Link to DOJ PRESS RELEASE - Early Bitcoin Investor Charged with Tax Fraud

Link to original (now-unsealed) DOJ Grand Jury INDICTMENT (PDF) - https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1350116/dl?inline

[canuckledragger]

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[FakeNoose]

3. It's only worth something when stupid people trade their real dollars for it

If only they would stop doing that, then crypto would be worthless.

[everyonematters]

7. Yep. Trading in something that has nothing to do with the production of goods and services is stupid, and

potentially disastrous for the economy.

[Ford_Prefect]

2. Crypto is the vaporware scam of this century. What was once a means of encrypted exchange based on actual currency is

now an empty formula consuming enormous amounts of electricity to prove the existence of a non-entity. Vegas wishes it had this kind of deal.

[oasis]

4. The magic of Crypto

Now you see it. now you don't.

[Aussie105]

5. I always wondered why:

1. Running an algorithm on a computer could generate money.

2. Why Crypto addicts could never answer 1.

3. Why said addicts got angry when their circuitous explanation that didn't answer the question wasn't acceptable.

Undoubtedly as it is now, it really is a Ponzi scheme. Probably was, from the start.

[dembotoz]

6. perhaps a better investment than truth social