‘Bitcoin Jesus’ released on bond but cannot leave Spain; US officials looking to have Ver extradited for tax offenses

Roger Ver, the man known as “Bitcoin Jesus,” has been allowed early release
on bail by a Spanish court, reports say.
 
Media reports from Bloomberg, dated June 5, indicate that Ver is awaiting
possible extradition to the United States to answer to eight criminal tax-fraud
charges.

He was arrested in Spain last month and posted approximately US$163,000 in
bail on May 17, allowing him to leave jail.
 
As a condition of his bail, Ver, dubbed a “prolific bitcoin investor,” has to
remain in the country, appear before the court every two days, and was
required to surrender his travel documents.

Reports are that on April 30, the US Justice Department made public charges
against Ver for mail fraud, tax evasion, and filing false tax returns, which were
filed in a California federal court.
 
Ver is alleged to have defrauded the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of about
US$48 million by failing to report capital gains through his sales of BTC and
other assets.

Reports say that US officials plan on extraditing the businessman from Spain
to the United States to stand trial.

He has a previous conviction for selling explosives on eBay, an offence to
which he pleaded guilty to three related felony charges and spent 10 months
in prison.

Reportedly, Ver was born in California, but renounced his US citizenship in
2014 and no longer holds a passport to that country.
 
He currently holds citizenship in St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda
through their Citizenship by Investment Programmes.
  
Ver reportedly owned and operated Pay Antigua and now operates BCA – a
company that reportedly installed several Bitcoin Cash ATMs across Antigua
and Barbuda.

In 2020, he was invited by the Cabinet to invest in a private bank in which the
Government has some stake.

The investor reportedly was also tipped to become non-resident ambassador
to Japan, where he moved after renouncing his US citizenship.
Then, a Cabinet Note announced, also in 2020, that Ver had “agreed to
purchase 1,000 laptops that will go to students at the high school level,
enabling distance learning in the time of COVID-19.”
 
No more information has been given about any of these three ventures.