Bitcoin
‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Roger Ver released on bail in Spain
Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Roger Ver, also known as “Bitcoin Jesus”, has been released on bail in Spain after paying €150,000 bail.
According to a Bloomberg report, Ver was allowed out of prison on May 17, on condition that he surrender his passport and remain in Spain pending a decision on his extradition to the US, where he faces Accusations of $50 million tax evasion. Ver must also appear in court every two days.
Ver was arrested by Spanish authorities in April after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released an indictment alleging he had evaded paying nearly $50 million in taxes, as well as charges of mail fraud and filing tax returns. false.
At the indictmentThe DOJ alleges that after Ver renounced his US citizenship and obtained citizenship in Saint Kitts and Nevis, he did not report capital gains or pay taxes on his 131,000 BTC holdings.
Ver is accused of providing false or misleading information to the law firm and appraiser that prepared tax returns related to his expatriation, undervaluing two of his companies that held 73,000 of his BTC holdings, and failing to report his personal holdings.
In November 2017, Ver sold “tens of thousands” of Bitcoin for around $240 million in cash – sales that he was legally required to report to the IRS, along with his receipt of Bitcoin from the two companies.
“In total, Ver is alleged to have caused a loss to the IRS of at least $48 million,” the indictment said.
Who is Roger Ver?
Ver, an avowed libertarian, was an early adopter and evangelist for Bitcoin, earning the nickname “Bitcoin Jesus” for distributing the cryptocurrency for free.
He later turned his attention to Bitcoin Moneya hard fork of the original cryptocurrency, which he keeps is the “truest representation of Satoshi’s vision.”
Ver has had run-ins with the law before; in 2002 he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for selling explosives on eBay.
On a 2019 lecturehe argued that, “It’s the lawbreakers who move society forward,” adding that, “If it weren’t for people breaking the law, we’d still have slavery. We’d still have people sitting in the back of the bus. People who have the courage to break the law have the ability to make the world a better place.”