'Bitcoin Jesus' Saves
Crypto promoter charged with dodging $48 million in taxes
Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” – Luke 17:15 (New International Version)
Gospel Jesus sayeth: Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.
Bitcoin Jesus sayeth: I’m renouncing my U.S. citizenship, hiring a good lawyer and fleeing to the beach.–––––≠
On Wednesday, the Department of Justice announced criminal tax fraud charges against crypto promoter Roger Ver, who is more widely known as “Bitcoin Jesus.”
The Feds allege eight counts of mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns in a complex scheme to evade $48 million in taxes.
Ver, a citizen of the Caribbean islands of St. Kitts and Nevis, was arrested over the weekend in Spain. The feds are now seeking extradition so he can be tried in a U.S. court.
"Mr. Ver relied on leading tax professionals to help him report his Bitcoin and he always intended to fully comply with his U.S. tax obligations," said his lawyer, Bryan Skarlatos, in a statement released to media outlets. "We look forward to establishing his innocence in court, if necessary."
Coming to Jesus
The 45-year-old crypto evangelist was born and in San Jose, Calif., and reared in the heart of Silicon Valley, where he may have developed a contrarian sense of ethics.
In a 2014 media interview, he declared, "Money laundering is not a crime.” (Well, actually, it is.)
In 2002, he served 10 months in a federal prison for illegally selling explosives. He has characterized the offense as merely selling firecrackers on eBay. (And did they really have to crucify him for that?)
He got the name Bitcoin Jesus for the way he once explained the digital currency to high school kids. (Can I get an amen? Probably not.)
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