Michael Saylor accused of failing to pay $25 million in taxes

What’s new? Attorney General Karl Racine of Washington, D.C., has filed a civil lawsuit against analytics software company MicroStrategy and its founder Michael Saylor. According to the Attorney General’s claims, Saylor has been evading income taxes in the District for years. Racine explained that there is a conspiracy between MicroStrategy and Saylor to help the latter evade paying taxes on hundreds of millions of dollars the entrepreneur earned while living in Washington.

Information on the Attorney General’s website

What other statements have been made? The evasion scheme was as follows: between 2014 and 2020, Saylor allegedly claimed to be living in Florida (a state with no income tax), even though he was actually in Washington most of the time. The total amount of unpaid tax is $25 million. According to Racine, MicroStrategy’s involvement in the fraud stems from the company filing false returns that listed Florida as Saylor’s residence.

The Attorney General emphasized that this is the first lawsuit filed under DC’s recently updated False Claims Law, which encourages whistleblowers to report residents who violate tax laws by misrepresenting their residences. With this lawsuit, law enforcement wants to put residents and employers on notice that they face liability if they refuse to pay their share in taxes, Racine stressed.

In a comment for Decrypt, Saylor reported that he moved to Miami Beach, Florida, a decade ago, and added that he was awaiting a fair resolution from the court. MicroStrategy officials denied allegations of conspiring with Saylor to evade taxes, adding that they had no control over “his personal tax responsibilities.”

In early August, MicroStrategy announced changes in its management team. Saylor stepped down as head of the company and was replaced by Phong Le. It is known that Saylor will remain the Chairman of MicroStrategy’s Board of Directors, the entrepreneur plans to focus on buying bitcoin and promoting the cryptocurrency to the masses, while Phong Le will manage general corporate operations.