On April 30, Roger Ver, one of Bitcoin’s earliest investors, was arrested at a cryptocurrency conference in Barcelona and charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles with tax evasion and fraud. After posting bail, he was initially released. However, he faces possible extradition to the United States in February 2025. The indictment alleges that Ver failed to report capital gains from the 2017 sale of „tens of thousands“ of bitcoins worth $240 million, thereby evading over $48 million in taxes.
Industry experts, as reported by FOX Business, described the arrest as another example of the Biden administration’s so-called „war on crypto.“
At the time, Ver apparently no longer resided in the United States. He had renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2014 in favor of Japanese citizenship. The indictment also accuses Ver of deliberately underreporting the market value of his bitcoin holdings when he expatriated. Ver contends that there were „numerous obstacles“ preventing accurate tax filings at the time, including the lack of liquid bitcoin markets.
„I always knew I’d be a political target for the IRS and law enforcement after I expatriated.“
Roger Ver, FOX Business
Indeed, Ver is a vocal critic of the United States, particularly regarding its tax policies. The United States, along with Eritrea, is one of the few countries in the world that taxes its citizens regardless of their residence or other circumstances.
The Defense – Motion to Dismiss the Case
Also, Ver’s legal team argues the indictment is politically motivated, citing his vocal criticism of U.S. crypto policy and libertarian beliefs as likely reasons. Backed by top-tier law firms, including Steptoe LLP, they filed a motion to dismiss, claiming unconstitutional overreach and misleading evidence.
Explicitly, Ver’s defense argued for the dismissal of charges on two main grounds:
Unconstitutionality of the Exit Tax
„The indictment against Roger Ver must be dismissed for two reasons. First, the charges in the indictment are unconstitutional. The ‘exit tax’ at issue violates both the Apportionment Clause and the Due Process Clause of the Constitution.”
Vagueness and Incompleteness of the Charges
„Despite years of negotiation and demands, and despite the government’s claim to have attributed cryptocurrency holdings to Ver and his companies, the government has never, and the indictment does not, identify the amount of tax that Ver purportedly owed as the result of his expatriation in 2014.”
The defense also accused the prosecution of selectively citing incomplete documents and violating attorney-client privilege by unlawfully interrogating one of Ver’s lawyers.
Ver’s team sees good chances that the case will be dismissed under the crypto-friendly Trump administration. Roger Ver emphasized that he used the services of reputable law firms to act in compliance with the law. In 2014, he paid the so-called „exit tax,“ a tax on unrealized gains, and left the U.S. „I want to make sure that my exit tax payments are as clean as possible, with no room to have trouble from the IRS in the future“, he said in an email to his lawyer in 2013. The legal uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrencies was a key factor, which is now being used against him.
The case unfolds amid political change, offering a potential shift in crypto regulation. Observers see this as a pivotal moment that may define how the U.S. approaches the crypto industry moving forward. However, if Ver is convicted, he faces long prison sentences.
First Interview since arrest in April
Members of the crypto community wondered whether Ver was actually at large, as his 𝕏 account had been inactive since April 2024.
It is likely that his lawyers advised him against any public appearances during this period. Recently, however, a post appeared on his account announcing his first interview with Tucker Carlson, which is set to be released in full today. We will report about this on HAINTZmedia.
