Roger Ver, widely known as “Bitcoin Jesus” for his early promotion of cryptocurrency, is contesting charges made against him by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).
Ver, who renounced his US citizenship in 2014, was arrested in Spain in April. US authorities are seeking his extradition on charges including tax evasion, mail fraud and filing false tax returns.
Prosecutors claim Ver undervalued his assets and failed to report ownership of about 131,000 Bitcoin BTC$97,604. He denied the allegations in an interview with Tucker Carlson on Dec. 10.
“I wasn’t an American citizen or living in the US at the time these claims were made,” Ver said. He accused the US government of being “angry” not about taxes but about his “lack of obedience.”
Legal history
According to the DOJ, Ver failed to report significant capital gains from Bitcoin sales and underreported the value of two companies when he renounced his US citizenship in 2014. Prosecutors allege Ver concealed 131,000 BTC, worth nearly $240 million at the time of sale in 2017, leading to a $48 million tax shortfall.
Ver’s defense argues the allegations are outdated and stem from ambiguous cryptocurrency tax laws.
His legal team also contends that US prosecutors misused confidential communications and violated legal protections.
Political retaliation claims
In the interview with Carlson, Ver insisted that the charges don’t stem from tax charges but from his high-profile promotion of cryptocurrencies, which he believes threatens government control of money systems.
He also said that US intelligence agencies orchestrated a campaign to suppress BTC’s original goal of decentralization.
The Bitcoin evangelist also linked his indictment to the recent publication of his book, which he claimed exposes government interference in the cryptocurrency industry.
Tax evasion charges dismissal
On Dec. 3, Ver moved to dismiss the US tax evasion charges by claiming the case was “unconstitutional” and arguing that the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) exit tax was “inscrutably vague.”
In the filing, he said that the charges relied on “provisions of the US tax laws” that were unclear about the “application to digital assets of the kind that underlie the charges.”
The IRS exit tax requires that US citizen pay all required taxes before renouncing their citizenship and removing themselves from the country’s taxation system.
