Roger Ver to Pay $50 Million to the IRS After Admitting Debt
Date: 2025-10-16 Author: Oliver Abernathy Categories: BUSINESS
Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essaily announced that Roger Ver has admitted liability for tax evasion and agreed to pay $50 million to the IRS. According to Essaily, the prosecutor's office intends to ensure that every citizen, regardless of their status or income, fulfills their tax obligations.
Ver, through his lawyers, stated that he was pleased with the conclusion of the long-running legal battle and expressed gratitude to the Donald Trump administration for its objective and professional approach to the case.
Roger Ver, known in the crypto community as "Bitcoin Jesus," left the United States in 2014 and received citizenship in St. Kitts and Nevis. According to prosecutors, at the time of his renunciation, he owned 131,000 BTC, which was then valued at approximately $871 per coin. According to the law, upon losing his citizenship, he was required to pay an expatriation tax on his assets.
While Ver's lawyers claimed he hired lawyers and appraisers to accurately calculate his taxes, the investigation found that he provided them with false information, concealing the true amount of his bitcoin holdings. In 2016, he allegedly filed false tax returns, excluding some of his cryptocurrency assets.
By November 2017, according to prosecutors, Ver had sold his bitcoins and received approximately $240 million in cash. Despite losing his US citizenship, he remained obligated to report to tax authorities because his companies continued to operate in the US.
In May 2024, the founder of Bitcoin.com was arrested in Spain at the request of the US Department of Justice. He was later released on bail, but faced extradition and a possible sentence of up to 109 years in prison for tax fraud. The entrepreneur's defense attempted to challenge the Spanish authorities' decision, but, as recent events show, the case ended with a voluntary settlement and payment of the debt.
Thus, the long-running legal battle between Roger Ver and the US tax authorities has come to an end. The Bitcoin.com founder avoided a lengthy prison sentence by agreeing to pay the state's financial claims in the amount of $50 million.
