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IRS Targets Former Citizen Because He "Caused A Loss To The IRS"

Posted on 5/3/24 at 2:25 pm
Posted by Knartfocker
Member since Jun 2020
1371 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 2:25 pm
Surprised this hasn't been mentioned here yet. SIAP if it has.

The X post sums up what happened and includes a link to the DOJ filing.

Basically, the guy had a ton of bitcoin that he personally held and held in a couple corporations. He renounced his citizenship in 2014. After he was no longer a citizen, he moves some bitcoin from his corporations to himself. And during the first massive surge in 2017, he sells a ton of it and makes big money.

Now, in 2024, the IRS is coming after him for those bitcoin he sold in 2017, after he was no longer a citizen. He was arrested in Spain to be extradited back to the States.

The whole story is wild.

Posted by teke184
Zachary, LA
Member since Jan 2007
96546 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 2:27 pm to
What is 80,000 IRS agents getting fired?

A good start.
Posted by C
Houston
Member since Dec 2007
27832 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 2:38 pm to
Not sure it’s straight forward if he purposely withheld distribution of the bitcoins. I pay Japanese taxes when Nintendo pays me a dividend. Not sure I can avoid that without going to jail.
Posted by SlowFlowPro
Simple Solutions to Complex Probs
Member since Jan 2004
424131 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 2:40 pm to
quote:

Ver and his companies allegedly owned approximately 131,000 bitcoins


Nice.

Reading the indictment, he gone.
Posted by Jorts R Us
Member since Aug 2013
14877 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 2:41 pm to
No idea if this guy under reported his btc holdings or not but a Twitter account drumming up noise about double taxation without acknowledging foreign tax credits is not tax savvy enough for me to listen to.
Posted by Jack Carter
Member since Sep 2018
10550 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 2:49 pm to
Tyrants
Posted by dgnx6
Baton Rouge
Member since Feb 2006
69036 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 2:54 pm to
Its harder to not be a us citizen than to become one.


Posted by el Gaucho
He/They
Member since Dec 2010
53181 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 2:56 pm to
I know Bitcoin Jesus
Posted by boosiebadazz
Member since Feb 2008
80442 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 3:01 pm to
Here’s the release:

quote:

An indictment was unsealed yesterday charging Roger Ver, an early investor in bitcoins, with mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns. Ver was arrested this weekend in Spain based on the U.S. criminal charges. The United States will seek Ver’s extradition to stand trial in the United States.

According to the indictment, Ver formerly of Santa Clara, California, owned MemoryDealers.com Inc. and Agilestar.com Inc., two companies that sold computer and networking equipment. Starting in 2011, Ver allegedly began acquiring bitcoins for himself and his companies. He also allegedly avidly promoted bitcoins, even obtaining the moniker “Bitcoin Jesus.”

On Feb. 4, 2014, Ver allegedly obtained citizenship in St. Kitts and Nevis and shortly thereafter renounced his U.S. citizenship in a process known as expatriation. As a result of his expatriation, Ver allegedly was required under U.S. law to file tax returns that reported capital gains from the constructive sale of his world-wide assets, including the bitcoins, and to report the fair market value of his assets. He was also allegedly required to pay a tax – referred to as an “exit tax” – on those capital gains. By Feb. 4, 2014, Ver and his companies allegedly owned approximately 131,000 bitcoins that traded on several large exchanges for around $871 each. MemoryDealers and Agilestar allegedly held approximately 73,000 of those bitcoins.

Ver allegedly hired a law firm to assist him with his expatriation and to prepare his expatriation-related tax returns. Ver also allegedly hired an appraiser to value his two companies. Ver allegedly provided or caused to be provided false or misleading information to the law firm and appraiser that concealed the true number of bitcoins he and his companies owned. As a result, the law firm allegedly prepared and filed false tax returns that substantially undervalued the two companies and their 73,000 bitcoins and did not report that Ver owned any bitcoins personally.

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. 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.

In total, Ver is alleged to have caused a loss to the IRS of at least $48 million.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California made the announcement.
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