Spain arrests Bitcoin.com founder at the behest of the US authorities

What’s new? One of the early bitcoin investors and founders of the Bitcoin com service Roger Ver has been arrested in Spain at the request of the US government. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged him with tax evasion and filing false tax returns, these actions caused the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at least $48 million in damages. The US intends to seek Ver’s extradition for trial.

DOJ statement

What else is known? According to the indictment, Ver, formerly of Santa Clara, California, owned two computer hardware companies, MemoryDealers and Agilestar. In 2011, he began buying bitcoins for himself and his companies, and in 2014, he obtained citizenship of St. Kitts and Nevis by renouncing his US citizenship while failing to pay taxes.

Thus, Ver was required to file capital gains tax returns on the sale of his worldwide assets, including bitcoins, and to report the fair market value of the assets he owned. In addition, Ver was required to pay expatriation tax on the capital gains.

As of January 4, 2014, Ver owned approximately 131 000 BTC, of which MemoryDealers and Agilestar held 73 000 coins. The asset’s exchange price on the exchanges at the time was $871.

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The indictment further alleges that Ver hired a law firm to help him prepare tax returns before traveling abroad, and hired an expert to estimate the value of his two companies. In doing so, he provided the experts with false information, understating the amount of bitcoins in the accounts.

As a result, false tax returns were filed, understating the value of the companies and their bitcoin assets. In addition, the documents did not indicate at all that Ver himself also owned the first cryptocurrency.

In June 2017, about 70 000 bitcoins from the companies’ accounts were transferred into Ver’s possession. After which he sold tens of thousands of coins on crypto exchanges in November of that year, receiving $240 million. This transaction was not listed on his tax return at all.

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Although Ver was no longer a US citizen at the time, he was required by law to report to the IRS and pay taxes on dividends from MemoryDealers and Agilestar, which were US companies.