Crypto investor 'bitcoin Jesus' arrested and charged by the Justice Department with $48 million tax evasion

"Bitcoin Jesus" was arrested in Spain this week on charges including mail fraud and tax evasion.

• "Bitcoin Jesus" Roger Ver was arrested in Spain on charges of tax evasion this week. 
• The DOJ says Ver dodged $48 million in taxes owed to the IRS. 
• An early crypto enthusiast, he's been a long-time bitcoin evangelist, earning him the "bitcoin Jesus" nickname. 

Veteran crypto trader Roger Ver, also known as "bitcoin Jesus," was arrested in Spain and charged by the US Department of Justice with evading $48 million in taxes. 

According to a press release from the Justice Department on Tuesday, Ver was arrested in Spain last weekend on criminal charges, with authorities set to seek extradition for his trial in the US.

Ver faces three charges of mail fraud, two charges of tax evasion, and three charges of subscribing to a false tax return. These allegations are said to have resulted in a minimum loss of $48 million in taxes due to the IRS. 

The DOJ says that when Ver renounced his US citizenship and became a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis on February 4, 2014, he and his US-based companies — MemoryDealers and Agilestar — collectively owned approximately 131,000 bitcoins that valued at $871 each, with the companies allegedly holding about 73,000 of them.

However, the DOJ said Ver didn't comply with the US law to file taxes and report the market value of worldwide assets and pay an "exit tax" on capital gains. 

"Bitcoin Jesus" also allegedly gave false information to a law firm and appraiser, which resulted in undervaluing his assets by not disclosing the true number of bitcoins he and his companies owned, including an underestimation of his personal holdings.

The Justice Department claims that Ver's two companies retained about 7,000 bitcoins by June 2017, and Ver purportedly sold tens of thousands of them for around $240 million in cash. Additionally, he was legally obliged to report and pay taxes on distributions, despite not being a US citizen at that time.

Ver, who was an early cryptocurrency evangelist, has been avidly promoting bitcoin for years, earning him the "Bitcoin Jesus" moniker. 

Also this week, Binance's former boss Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to four months over the exchange's violation of anti-money laundering rules. His sentencing comes a little over a month after former FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years for defrauding customers.