Bitcoin Jesus Roger Ver strikes tentative $48M tax deal with DOJ

Roger Ver, a proponent of Bitcoin who is often referred to by many in the cryptocurrency community as “Bitcoin Jesus,” has reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice that would spare him from jail time.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that Ver’s attorneys and U.S. authorities had reached a provisional arrangement that would compel the proponent of Bitcoin to pay $48 million in taxes due on his cryptocurrency assets. In April 2024, the Justice Department sought to extradite him from Spain to stand prosecution on charges of tax evasion and mail fraud.

According to The New York Times, Bitcoin Jesus has ties to figures associated with the administration of US President Donald Trump, including hiring lawyers who initially worked for the president. Reports indicate that he also paid $600,000 to Roger Stone, a political consultant and Trump adviser, to lobby for changes to U.S. tax laws.

The development follows a series of regulatory and legal actions taken under the Trump administration, which eased the enforcement of digital asset cases. 

The original indictment alleges that Ver misrepresented information on tax forms related to his crypto holdings. According to the DOJ, he and two of his firms, Memory Dealers and Agilestar, allegedly held approximately 131,000 BTC in 2014. The DOJ added that he attempted to evade paying taxes on his assets by renouncing his U.S. citizenship and subsequently becoming a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis.

“Even though Ver was not then a US citizen, he was still legally required to report to the IRS and pay tax on certain distributions,” said the Justice Department in April 2024.

Ties to Trump allies and lobbying efforts surface amid legal battle

Spanish authorities arrested Ver following his U.S. indictment in 2024, though he secured bail just days later. Since then, his legal team has been contesting Spain’s extradition efforts and defending him against the charges in U.S. federal court.

Following Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection, his administration has taken numerous steps toward being friendlier to the crypto sector, from dropping probes into big-name firms like Coinbase and Binance to designating supportive leadership at the helm of key federal agencies. Many in the crypto community speculated that the president might grant Bitcoin Jesus a pardon. 

Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the darknet marketplace Silk Road and one of the first individuals to receive a pardon from Trump, called for leniency in Ver’s case. “No one should spend the rest of their life in prison over taxes,” said Ulbricht in February. “Let him pay the tax (if any) and be done with it.”

Crypto community rallies as speculation grows over a possible Trump pardon

In a related episode, Bloomberg reported that a $30 million plan to buy a presidential pardon for Ver fell apart before it could move forward. The effort was allegedly led by two controversial figures: Florida businessman Matt Argall, who calls himself “Lord Argall,” and crypto entrepreneur Brock Pierce. They discussed the scheme over dinner in Puerto Rico after Trump’s reelection.

As of Thursday, Ver’s X profile directed users to a petition urging Trump to pardon him. His website also featured an open letter calling on the U.S. government to drop the case, describing it as a “retaliatory action” against his advocacy for Bitcoin.

On Thursday afternoon, traders on the prediction platform Polymarket raised the probability of Trump pardoning the Bitcoin proponent, increasing the odds from 23% to 29%.

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