Roger Ver has been arrested

[NotATether]

Following the pattern of very rich bitcoiners who fail to pay their taxes and somehow get arrested in Span, Roger Ver has just been detailed for exactly that, according to reports.

First of all we have the report from Ver's own newspaper, bitcoin.com (LOL!):

On April 30, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) detained Roger Ver, a trailblazing investor in bitcoin, on accusations of tax evasion and submitting fraudulent tax returns. The following update is accompanied by a statement from Bitcoin.com regarding the allegations against the company’s founder.

Bitcoin Investor Roger Ver Charged With Tax Evasion
According to the DOJ press release, by 2014, Roger Ver and his companies, Memorydealers and Agilestar, reportedly controlled over 131,000 bitcoins, each valued at about $871. Memorydealers and Agilestar allegedly maintained control of approximately 73,000 of those bitcoins. However, he is accused of supplying misleading information to legal and valuation experts to minimize these assets’ declared value.

This alleged misstatement, according to the U.S. government, resulted in underreported company tax returns and the evasion of the mandatory “exit tax” on capital gains from his worldwide assets. Ver was apprehended in Spain, and the DOJ declared that the government intends to extradite him to face trial in the United States.

And then the newspaper predictably defended him:

Statement From Bitcoin.com
“In light of the recent news, we want to underscore that these legal matters pertain solely to Roger and have no bearing on Bitcoin.com. While we cannot comment on the specifics of the allegations, we stand by Roger and his contributions to the cryptocurrency space,” a Bitcoin.com spokesperson told our newsdesk.

“Importantly, these legal proceedings do not affect our operations or the services we provide. Bitcoin.com remains steadfast in our mission of making money accessible to everyone, everywhere, without limits. Our commitment to this mission remains unwavering. This litigation does not affect our operations or the services we provide. Our non-custodial wallet ensures that users always maintain control of their funds,” the spokesperson added.

What is this statement supposed to be, the editor talking to himself? I find it quite funny that Bitcoin.com needs to talk to its spokesperson in order to write about this.

[SamReomo]

I find it quite funny that Bitcoin.com needs to talk to its spokesperson in order to write about this.

Yes, that's somewhat funny but I believe they don't want to have any clashes with Roger Ver as he's been a part of the crypto sphere for a long time and that's why Bitcoin.com want to have some distance from this issue.

I believe that next time those who are having crypto investments should think twice about the taxes because now it's going to be tough for the investors who used to ignore the taxes of crypto currencies.

Tax evasion has always been a crime and no matter if someone does that as a crypto investors or any other kind of investor. Roger Ver will have to bear the consequences of his actions, who know what's going to happen to him from now on.

[yhiaali3]

Really funny, what made me laugh the most was this quote:

Bitcoin.com remains steadfast in our mission of making money accessible to everyone, everywhere, without limits

It seems as if they are presenting themselves as they and "Bitcoin" the same thing!!!

In any case, the United States began its major war against everything related to Bitcoin and Crypto, starting with central and decentralized third-party services and ending with institutions and individuals, in a clear message that no one is outside its grip.

It is clear that they will now start prosecuting all known personalities who own Bitcoin on charges of tax evasion.

[MRY]

Really funny, what made me laugh the most was this quote:

Bitcoin.com remains steadfast in our mission of making money accessible to everyone, everywhere, without limits

It seems as if they are presenting themselves as they and "Bitcoin" the same thing!!!

In any case, the United States began its major war against everything related to Bitcoin and Crypto, starting with central and decentralized third-party services and ending with institutions and individuals, in a clear message that no one is outside its grip.

It is clear that they will now start prosecuting all known personalities who own Bitcoin on charges of tax evasion.

If America imposes a strict ban on the use of bitcoin like this, it will be bad news for bitcoin and most likely this will cause the price of bitcoin to collapse. I suspect that what the American government is doing is aimed at controlling the price of bitcoin.

[yhiaali3]

If America imposes a strict ban on the use of bitcoin like this, it will be bad news for bitcoin and most likely this will cause the price of bitcoin to collapse. I suspect that what the American government is doing is aimed at controlling the price of bitcoin.

No, at all, I do not expect that the goal of the American government is to control the price of Bitcoin. It is possible that they control the price to make it volatile, increase the risks for investors, and spread panic among investors, but that is certainly not their primary goal.

Their first goal is to control Bitcoin by controlling all third-party services, so they started pursuing all third-party services, blocking them, accusing them of money laundering, supporting terrorism, etc.

[Stompix]

I find it quite funny that Bitcoin.com needs to talk to its spokesperson in order to write about this.

Yes, that's somewhat funny but I believe they don't want to have any clashes with Roger Ver as he's been a part of the crypto sphere for a long time and that's why Bitcoin.com want to have some distance from this issue.

Roger Ver owns Bitcoin.com!

If America imposes a strict ban on the use of bitcoin like this, it will be bad news for bitcoin and most likely this will cause the price of bitcoin to collapse. I suspect that what the American government is doing is aimed at controlling the price of bitcoin.

It has nothing to do with Bitcoin, this is tax evasion!
This thing is getting out of control lately, next if we see a guy who runs a stop sign getting a ticket it will because he owned bitcoin not because he ran that stop sign!

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/early-bitcoin-investor-charged-tax-fraud

Ver allegedly hired a law firm to assist him with his expatriation and to prepare his expatriation-related tax returns. Ver also allegedly hired an appraiser to value his two companies. Ver allegedly provided or caused to be provided false or misleading information to the law firm and appraiser that concealed the true number of bitcoins he and his companies owned. As a result, the law firm allegedly prepared and filed false tax returns that substantially undervalued the two companies and their 73,000 bitcoins and did not report that Ver owned any bitcoins personally.

44 million in tax evasion, that's why he is in trouble, not because he used bitcoins or money or anything else.

[Peter90]

Following the pattern of very rich bitcoiners who fail to pay their taxes and somehow get arrested in Span, Roger Ver has just been detailed for exactly that, according to reports.

I believe that next time those who are having crypto investments should think twice about the taxes because now it's going to be tough for the investors who used to ignore the taxes of crypto currencies.

Tax evasion has always been a crime and no matter if someone does that as a crypto investors or any other kind of investor. Roger Ver will have to bear the consequences of his actions, who know what's going to happen to him from now on.

So someone promotes BTC as a p2p payment, circumventing fiat & banks.
The original goal of bitcoin

He publishes a book about how BTC was hijacked and changed into a toy for make money.
2 weeks after the publication he is arrested for a crime he allegedly committed 10 years ago.

Crypto people - who probably don't know squat about this case - side instinctively with authorities and Main Stream Media
NotaTether
SamReomo

From these examples you see what the "crypto community" has become

[MrSpasybo]

Yes, that's somewhat funny but I believe they don't want to have any clashes with Roger Ver as he's been a part of the crypto sphere for a long time and that's why Bitcoin.com want to have some distance from this issue.

I believe that next time those who are having crypto investments should think twice about the taxes because now it's going to be tough for the investors who used to ignore the taxes of crypto currencies.

Tax evasion has always been a crime and no matter if someone does that as a crypto investors or any other kind of investor. Roger Ver will have to bear the consequences of his actions, who know what's going to happen to him from now on.

I used to be a big fan of Roger Ver and believed that BCH was actually more attractive than BTC due to its larger block size. Unfortunately, BCH was not chosen by the community for many reasons. I hope Roger Ver can settle this lawsuit to avoid a multi-year prison sentence for tax evasion. We will continue to wait for the latest news on this event, although I am not really that interested in it. I prefer to follow the price chart rather than legal news.

The good thing is that this news has had almost no significant impact on the BTC price and the crypto market, perhaps because BCH has been almost forgotten in the crypto market despite a +600% recovery over the past year. In fact, it was thanks to this event that I learned that BCH is preparing for a major update on May 15th ^^