Per the DOJ’s report, Ver did not disclose significant capital gains from Bitcoin sales as of the time he renounced his US citizenship in 2014.
Roger Ver, popularly known as “Bitcoin Jesus” is maintaining his stand that the allegations leveled against him by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) are not true.
Ver was apprehended by the US authorities in Spain in April on charges ranging from tax evasion to mail fraud and filing false tax returns.
Presently, the US authorities are waiting to get a court ruling in favor of extraditing Ver. To this end, prosecutors have put up a strong case, claiming that Ver was dishonest about the real value of his assets. More so, about his 131,000 Bitcoin (BTC) ownership.
In response, Ver suggested that there might be an attack to smear his name and personality. He shared this in a Tuesday interview with Tucker Carlson, where he noted that he wasn’t even an American citizen or resident at the time of those claims.
Ver further noted that the antics of the US government might not really be about any evaded taxes but his insubordination and advocacy for Bitcoin.
History of Ver’s Legal Trouble
Per the DOJ’s report, Ver did not disclose significant capital gains from Bitcoin sales as of the time he renounced his US citizenship in 2014. Additionally, he also failed to report the true values of two companies at the time.
Eventually, Ver was able to run away with a $48 million tax after hiding around $240 million worth of BTC sold in 2017, says the DOJ.
Meanwhile, Roger Ver and his lawyers insist that the allegations are untrue. Besides, the unclear nature of existent crypto tax laws make them difficult to follow judiciously.
Furthermore, they claim that US prosecutors might have used confidential communications to their advantage. Therefore, violating legal protections.
Is There a Conspiracy Theory?
Interestingly, there is an even bigger conspiracy theory that Ver believes might be currently unfolding. As earlier stated, Ver insists that the charges he faces are in no way about taxes. Rather, they look like a way that the government is determined to use to hush up his voice.
Ver believes that the rate at which he promotes cryptocurrencies is a direct threat to the government’s bid to control money systems.
He spoke of how the government attempted to suppress the original agenda of BTC, which is decentralization. Lastly, he mentioned his recent publication, which he says is an eye-opener to all who care to know exactly how the government meddles with the affairs of the crypto industry.
In his most recent move in court, on December 3, precisely, Ver asked to have the tax evasion charges against him dismissed. He argued that they are “unconstitutional” even as the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) exit tax is “inscrutably vague”.
The IRS exit tax requires that US citizen pay all required taxes before they can renounce their citizenship and remove themselves from the country’s taxation system.
next