Roger Ver — also known as “Bitcoin Jesus” — has urged a United States judge to dismiss a case from US prosecutors alleging he committed tax evasion when selling millions of dollars in Bitcoin, claiming the case is unconstitutional.
In a Dec. 3 filing to a California federal court, Ver argued that the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) exit tax for those who choose to renounce their US citizenship with more than $2 million in assets was unconstitutional and “inscrutably vague.”
“The ‘exit tax’ at issue violates both the Apportionment Clause and the Due Process Clause of the Constitution […] the charges also rely on provisions of the U.S. tax laws that were, at all relevant times, inscrutably vague as to their application to digital assets of the kind that underlie the charges,” Ver argued.
The IRS’ exit tax aims to ensure that US citizens pay all required taxes before renouncing their citizenship and withdrawing from the country’s tax system.
Ver claimed prosecutors had “unlawfully” interrogated one of his lawyers and ignored crucial documents, which he claimed showed he had no intent of filing a fraudulent tax return.
On April 30, the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles said it arrested Ver in Spain and charged him with tax evasion and fraud, alleging he dodged more than $48 million in taxes by failing to report capital gains on the sale of “tens of thousands” of Bitcoin (BTC) for $240 million in cash.
Ver claimed there were several major impediments to submitting an appropriate exit tax request — including a lack of liquid markets for Bitcoin at the time — however, the US government remains adamant that Ver filed a fraudulent and “false” exit tax after renouncing his US citizenship for a Japanese one in 2014.
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Ver has been charged with mail fraud, tax evasion, and filing false tax returns. He faces a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in federal prison if found guilty on all counts.
Ver was one of the earliest advocates of Bitcoin, buying up droves of it in 2011 when it was under $1 and acting as an evangelical for digital assets. In 2017, he emerged as one of the loudest proponents of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) after the Bitcoin network underwent a hard fork.
Ver was later embroiled in a 2022 scandal with CoinFlex, which claimed that he owed the platform $47 million in USD Coin (USDC).
In 2002 and 2003, he spent 10 months in federal prison in the US for selling explosives on eBay.
The US Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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