"Bitcoin Jesus" and founder Bitcoin.com Roger Vera was detained in Spain on charges of tax fraud by the US Department of Justice.
Authorities intend to have him extradited to the United States, where he is charged with mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false returns.
According to the statement of law enforcement officers, Ver allegedly hid possession of the first cryptocurrency from the US Internal Revenue Service( IRS), which caused losses in the amount of $48 million.
In June 2017, the defendant's two companies owned approximately 70,000 BTC, which he later embezzled by hiding information from an accountant, and "sold tens of thousands of them on cryptocurrency exchanges for approximately $240 million."
"Despite the fact that Ver was not a U.S. citizen at the time, he was still legally required to report to the IRS and pay taxes on certain income, including dividends from MemoryDealers and Agilestar, which were American corporations," the Justice Department said.
The entrepreneur also used legal services to prepare and file false tax returns that underestimated the value of two of his companies.
Ver resided in Santa Clara, California, but renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2014 after receiving a passport from Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean.
• Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/early-bitcoin-investor-charged-tax-fraud
Authorities intend to have him extradited to the United States, where he is charged with mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false returns.
According to the statement of law enforcement officers, Ver allegedly hid possession of the first cryptocurrency from the US Internal Revenue Service( IRS), which caused losses in the amount of $48 million.
In June 2017, the defendant's two companies owned approximately 70,000 BTC, which he later embezzled by hiding information from an accountant, and "sold tens of thousands of them on cryptocurrency exchanges for approximately $240 million."
"Despite the fact that Ver was not a U.S. citizen at the time, he was still legally required to report to the IRS and pay taxes on certain income, including dividends from MemoryDealers and Agilestar, which were American corporations," the Justice Department said.
The entrepreneur also used legal services to prepare and file false tax returns that underestimated the value of two of his companies.
Ver resided in Santa Clara, California, but renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2014 after receiving a passport from Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean.
• Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/early-bitcoin-investor-charged-tax-fraud
