Bitcoin News and Finance
DC Attorney General Sues Billionaire Michael Saylor and Microstrategy Over Alleged Tax Fraud — Seeks $100 Million Skip to main content

DC Attorney General Sues Billionaire Michael Saylor and Microstrategy Over Alleged Tax Fraud — Seeks $100 Million

DC Attorney General Sues Billionaire Michael Saylor and Microstrategy Over Alleged Tax Fraud — Seeks $100 Million

The attorney general of the District of Columbia has sued Microstrategy’s co-founder and executive chairman, Michael Saylor, for tax fraud. The lawsuit also names Microstrategy as a defendant “alleging that it conspired to help him evade taxes he legally owes.” Both Saylor and Microstrategy denied the allegations. The attorney general is seeking more than $100 million in unpaid taxes and penalties.

District of Columbia Sues Billionaire Michael Saylor and Microstrategy

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of the District of Columbia announced Wednesday that Attorney General Karl A. Racine has filed “a tax fraud lawsuit” against Microstrategy’s co-founder and executive chairman, Michael J. Saylor. The lawsuit also names the Nasdaq-listed software company as a defendant “alleging that it conspired to help him evade taxes he legally owes.”

The announcement claims that Saylor has resided in the District of Columbia for more than a decade but has never paid any D.C. income taxes despite earning hundreds of millions of dollars.

DC Attorney General Sues Billionaire Michael Saylor and Microstrategy Over Alleged Tax Fraud — Seeks $100 Million

This is the first lawsuit brought under the District’s recently passed False Claims Act that encourages whistleblowers to report information about D.C. residents evading the District’s tax laws by misrepresenting their residences, the announcement explains.

Whistleblowers filed a lawsuit against Saylor in April last year, alleging that the billionaire bitcoin bull had defrauded the District and failed to pay income taxes he legally owed from 2014 through 2020. The OAG notice adds that after independently investigating the tax fraud allegations against Saylor, the attorney general office intervened in the whistleblower lawsuit and filed its own complaint against both Saylor and his software company.

According to the D.C. attorney general:

The suit alleges that Saylor engaged in an elaborate scheme to create the illusion that he lived in Florida, a state without personal income tax, while he actually resided in the District.

Attorney General Racine further detailed that Saylor has publicly called the District’s Georgetown neighborhood home since about 2005, noting that the Microstrategy founder lives in a 7,000-square-foot penthouse on the Georgetown waterfront and has docked at least two of his luxury yachts in the District for long periods of time.

The District’s lawsuit alleges that Saylor avoided paying more than $25 million in D.C. income taxes by claiming to be a Florida or Virginia resident, Attorney General Racine noted, concluding:

With this lawsuit, OAG is seeking to recover unpaid income taxes and penalties from both Saylor and Microstrategy that could total more than $100 million.

Michael Saylor and Microstrategy Respond to the D.C. Attorney General’s Allegations

Responding to the allegations against him, Saylor told Virginia Business: “A decade ago, I bought an historic house in Miami Beach and moved my home there from Virginia. Although Microstrategy is based in Virginia, Florida is where I live, vote and have reported for jury duty, and it is at the center of my personal and family life.” He elaborated:

I respectfully disagree with the position of the District of Columbia, and look forward to a fair resolution in the courts.

Microstrategy also told the publication: “The case is a personal tax matter involving Mr. Saylor. The company was not responsible for his day-to-day affairs and did not oversee his individual tax responsibilities. Nor did the company conspire with Mr. Saylor in the discharge of his personal tax responsibilities. The District of Columbia’s claims against the company are false and we will defend aggressively against this overreach.”

Saylor, a vocal bitcoin proponent, stepped down as the CEO of Microstrategy to become the executive chairman last month in order to focus on the company’s bitcoin strategy. The software company currently owns about 129,699 BTC, acquired at an average purchase price of $30,664 per bitcoin, net of fees and expenses.

What do you think about the District of Columbia seeking over $100 million in its lawsuit against Michael Saylor and his company over tax fraud? Let us know in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory