‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Roger Ver’s authorized group strikes to dismiss indictment

When in-style bitcoin influencer Roger Ver, identified by his 700,000 X followers as “Bitcoin Jesus,” was arrested in February while attending a cryptocurrency convention in Barcelona, the $3 trillion digital asset trade erupted with social media posts and commentary from main trade voices condemning the act as yet one more instance of the Biden administration’s “warfare on crypto.”

Ver’s arrest came after the U.S. Lawyer for the Central District of California unsealed an eight-count prison indictment accusing him of allegedly failing to pay practically $50 million in taxes on the sale of some $240 million worth of bitcoin in 2017 and underrepresenting the worth of his bitcoin holdings in 2014 when he renounced his citizenship and left the U.S. for the Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Attorneys for Ver, 45, an early adopter and promoter of Bitcoin who has publicly criticized the U.S. authority’s approach to crypto regulation, say the Justice Division’s indictment is solely political and one other instance of Biden-era officers utilizing enforcement to control an area with clear guidelines of the street.

Roger Ver poses for {a photograph} on the Form the Future: Blockchain International Summit in Hong Kong, China, on Sept. 20, 2017. (Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)

Now Ver and his attorneys are combating again. His authorized group consists of attorneys from white-shoe regulation corporations Steptoe LLP and Kimura London & White, who filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on Tuesday, citing unconstitutional authorities overreach and deceptive proof. They’re hoping {that a} crypto-friendly Trump administration will drop the case as a part of the president’s promise to finish the prior administration’s regulatory assault on the trade.

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Folks on Ver’s authorized group are hoping {that a} crypto-friendly Trump administration will drop the case as a part of the president-elect’s promise to finish the regulatory assault on the trade. (James Devaney/GC Photographs |  stock)

“I always knew I’d be a political target for the IRS and regulation enforcement after I expatriated,” Ver stated in a unique statement to FOX Enterprise. That’s why I made certain to rent probably the most respected attorneys and accountants and gave them clear directions to file everything completely—so there’d be no points when the inevitable audit arrived. However, the IRS nonetheless discovered a solution to make it an issue.”

Ver is an American entrepreneur who briefly ran for California State Meeting in 2000 as a libertarian. His nickname “Bitcoin Jesus” resulted from his early funding and promotion of the world’s largest digital asset, courting again to 2011 when he would give away free bitcoin because it was bought and sold between $0.31 and $31 per coin. At this time, it is priced near $100,000 per token.

He was additionally an early investor in several crypto startups, with Ripple Labs, Blockchain.com, and Bitcoin.com (from which he was based and served as CEO), and offered the seed cash to start BitPay and Kraken. He relocated to Japan in 2006 and ultimately grew to become a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis when he renounced his U.S. citizenship later in 2014. Earlier this year, he was arrested by Spanish police at the behest of U.S. authorities while on a visit to Barcelona to attend a crypto convention targeted on privateness blockchains—specialized blockchain networks designed to reinforce consumer privateness. He was additionally touting the launch of his new guide, “Hijacking Bitcoin: The Hidden Historical Past of BTC,” which partially argues how governmental management and rules have tarnished the cryptocurrency panorama. He’s now out on bail in Spain awaiting attainable extradition to the U.S. for a trial date of Feb. 3, 2025.

Roger Ver holds his passport as he poses for {a photograph} within the Shibuya district of Tokyo, Japan, on June 4, 2014. (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)

Ver’s attorneys and many within the crypto trade say his public criticism of the U.S. authorities and libertarian views might have motivated his indictment. If he is found responsible and convicted, he might face a heavy jail sentence.

Ver advised FOX Enterprise that the inclusion of his correspondence with attorneys within the submission that gives the rationale for his actions is designed to show the general public—and the Trump administration—that he was not attempting to flout the regulation, as the federal government alleges.

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The Worldwide Income Service headquarters was constructed on Jan. 3, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (J. David Ake/Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)

In its indictment, the federal government claims that in 2014, Ver purposely “underreported the truthful market values” of his private bitcoin holdings in addition to the assets he managed using his two companies—MemoryDealers US and Agilestar, which have been among the many first firms to accept bitcoin as a cost methodology—to keep away from paying the following so-called “exit tax.” Such a tax calls for people to pay a levy on any unrealized capital positive factors or earnings made while nonetheless a citizen. It additionally alleges that Ver deliberately didn’t report and pay taxes on the capital positive factors accrued upon closing these companies in 2017 and cashing out on the bitcoin holdings.

Within the movement to dismiss, Ver’s authorized group claims that the federal government violated Ver’s elementary right to equity and due course as a result of officers from the Justice Division might have improperly obtained attorney-client-privileged communications that led to his arrest, whereas additionally withholding information from a grand jury that will have forgiven him if given in full context. Moreover, they declare that the duty of the exit tax is unconstitutional because it ignores constitutional protections for Americans seeking to expatriate. They are saying that these claims, paired with the argument that U.S. tax pointers surrounding digital property at the time have been convoluted at the finest, warrant a dismissal of the indictment.

A consultant for the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in central California had no quick remark.

Ver maintains that he relied on the skilled recommendation of the regulation agency he retained (known as Regulation Agency 1 within the submission), which was working within the confines of the restricted and opaque steerage accessible for the nascent digital asset trade at the IRS didn’t problem up to date steerage on taxing digital property suggesting that they need to be handled as property, not foreign money, and due to this fact topic to capital positive factors tax, till after Ver left the U.S. in 2014.

“I need to be sure that my exit tax funds are as clear as attainable, with no room to have bother from the IRS sooner or later,” Ver stated to his lawyer in an email correspondence included within the submission dated April 2013.

Ver’s attorneys argue that hiring counsel during his exile would be a sin, showing that he tried in good religion to adjust to the regulations.

Because of the comparatively small market at the time of Ver’s expatriation (bitcoin was buying and selling between $450 and $600 a coin), his attorneys believed promoting a significant amount of the asset at one time might have triggered the worth of bitcoin to crash, in response to emails between Ver and his attorneys included within the new submission. To deal with this, Ver’s advisors urged getting a third-party appraisal of his holdings that would bear in mind the bitcoin market’s low buying and selling quantity and illiquidity and set up an extra affordable valuation that would not put the market in danger. He adopted this recommendation.

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Ver says his attorneys additionally suggested that he wouldn’t owe capital gains taxes upon the sale of his Bitcoin property in 2017 because his U.S. tax obligations had concluded when he left the nation and paid his exit tax in 2014.

The request for dismissal being filed against the backdrop of an incoming administration that has signaled it will likely be somewhat more pleasant towards crypto than the outgoing one has attorneys slightly more optimistic that Ver’s case might qualify for dismissal.

“The Trump Administration will inherit the extreme financial, political, and regulatory toll of the Biden Administration’s warfare on crypto. It’s going to implement a variety of rollbacks, pardons, and dismissals essential to cease the lawfare and selective harassment of defendants for political causes,” stated civil rights lawyer Robert Barnes, who has represented the likes of Wesley Snipes, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Ralph Nader and is now an advocate for Ver. “Few actions might ship a stronger message than pardoning Bitcoin Jesus.”

In the final month, a prosecutor for the nation’s prime prison courtroom, the Southern District of New York, stated that fewer cryptocurrency lawsuits, outside of fraud and manipulation circumstances, might be introduced beneath the new administration. Trump has tapped for Manhattan U.S. Lawyer his former Securities and Exchange Fee Chairman Jay Clayton, who oversaw over 50 enforcement actions towards the crypto trade throughout his tenure. However, he has become an adviser to varied crypto outfits, custody platform Fireblocks, and funding agency One River.