Early bitcoin investor Roger Ver arrested, charged with alleged tax fraud
Early bitcoin investor Roger Ver has been charged with alleged mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns. Ver supposedly concealed bitcoin ownership from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and caused the purported loss of $48 million.
Ver is charged with alleged mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns, according to a Tuesday statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. Ver was arrested this weekend in Spain, with possible extradition to the United States.
Ver allegedly concealed bitcoin ownership from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and caused the purported loss of $48 million, the release continues.
"The indictment further alleges that by June 2017, Ver’s two companies continued to own approximately 70,000 bitcoins. Around that time, Ver allegedly took possession of those bitcoins and in November 2017 sold tens of thousands of them on cryptocurrency exchanges for approximately $240 million in cash," according to the release.
"Even though Ver was not then a U.S. citizen, he was still legally required to report to the IRS and pay tax on certain distributions such as dividends from MemoryDealers and Agilestar, which were U.S. corporations. Ver allegedly concealed from his accountant that he had received and sold MemoryDealers’ and Agilestar’s bitcoins that year. As a result, Ver’s 2017 individual income tax return did not report any gain or pay any tax related to the distribution of MemoryDealers’ and Agilestar’s bitcoins to him."
Ver also allegedly used law services to prepare and file false tax returns that undervalued the two companies, hid their 73,000 BTC holdings and did not mention Ver's personal bitcoin ownership, according to the DOJ.
Ver had been a resident of Santa Clara, California, but renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2014 after purportedly gaining citizenship in St. Kitts and Nevis. He had been known online as "bitcoin Jesus" and was the former CEO of the digital wallet developer Bitcoin.com .
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
You may also like
Philippines’ budget office launches Polygon blockchain system to track government and public funds
Share link:In this post: The Philippines has launched a blockchain system on Polygon to track and verify government spending. The system connects the DBM’s internal processes to a public ledger using BYC’s Lumen and Prismo Protocol. This move aims to eliminate document fraud and restore public trust in government financial transparency, with plans to include procurement, inventory, and real-time auditing.
Russia mulls deadline to end support for Mastercard and Visa cards
Share link:In this post: Bank of Russia to scrap cards issued by Visa and Mastercard. Russia’s monetary authority is to set expiry dates for the foreign payment cards. The central bank invites Russians to replace their Visas and Mastercards with Russian Mirs.
Amazon reports stronger-than-expected Q2 earnings, credits revenue growth to AI
Share link:In this post: Amazon’s Q2 2025 revenue rose 13% to $167.7 billion, driven by AI and strong AWS performance. Net income increased to $18.2 billion, while operating income hit $19.2 billion, both beating last year’s numbers. Prime Day broke records, new AI tools launched, and satellite and streaming projects expanded.
Michael Saylor’s Strategy sees all-time high revenue growth in Q2 thanks to Bitcoin purchases
Share link:In this post: Strategy reported $14.03B in Q2 operating income and $10.02B in net income, driven by Bitcoin gains. The company holds 628,791 BTC at a total cost of $46.07B and saw a $13.2B BTC dollar gain YTD. Over $10.5B was raised via stock offerings in Q2 and July, including IPOs and ATM programs.
Trending news
MoreCrypto prices
More
