DC settles case against Bitcoin billionaire Michael Saylor | Wilnesh News

Billionaire Bitcoin investor Michael Saylor and the company he founded, micro strategyThe Attorney General’s Office announced Monday that it will pay $40 million to settle a tax fraud lawsuit brought by the Washington, D.C., attorney general.

Between 2005 and 2021, Thaler He allegedly evaded more than $25 million in District of Columbia income taxes by posing as a resident of low-tax states such as Florida and Virginia, Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a 2023 civil lawsuit. .

Thaler’s actual residence is a luxury penthouse in Washington overlooking the Georgetown waterfront, and his yacht is moored on the Potomac River, the lawsuit said.

“Saylor publicly bragged about his tax evasion schemes, encouraged his friends to follow his example, and claimed that anyone who paid taxes to the District was stupid,” Schwalb said in a statement.

Saylor founded MicroStrategy in 1989 in Virginia, a software consulting firm and leading data analytics company, and listed on Nasdaq in 1998. He serves as MicroStrategy’s CEO until 2022, when he becomes executive chairman.

In 2020, Saylor pivoted the company into the cryptocurrency market and has since amassed billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies.

As of Monday, Thaler’s net worth was approximately $4.9 billion. According to Forbes. He also held 2.4 million shares As of February, it owned shares of MicroStrategy, or 13% of the company.

MicroStrategy’s stock closed at $1,524.49 per share on Friday.

The Washington, D.C., attorney general has charged Saylor and MicroStrategy with tax evasion, claiming the company helped its founder conceal his D.C. residency so he could avoid paying higher income taxes.

MicroStrategy also allegedly failed to pay corporate taxes required of a company that employs Washington residents, Thaler is just one of several companies.

MicroStrategy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Original lawsuit against Saylor Introduced in 2022 Written by Karl Racine, former Washington, D.C. Attorney General. This was prompted by a 2021 whistleblower lawsuit that claimed Thaler cheated on his taxes and bragged about it to his friends.

The lawsuit tipped off the attorney general’s office, which later conducted its own investigation and filed civil charges.

The case against Thaler is the first filed in the District of Columbia under the updated False Claims Act. The update expands the attorney general’s tax enforcement powers and incentivizes whistleblowers to come forward by offering incentives of up to 25 percent of school district bonuses in successful cases.

According to the attorney general, Thaler had lived in the same luxury apartment building overlooking the Georgetown waterfront since at least 2005.

From 2006 to 2008, Thaler purchased three luxury Washington apartments and later transformed them into a complex he called “Trigate.” During renovations from 2011 to 2015, Thaler allegedly lived between his yacht, a penthouse and another apartment in Washington’s Adams Morgan neighborhood.

The civil complaint cites several Facebook posts on Seiler’s account that date to the period of home renovations.

“I stare longingly at my future home, waiting for James to whip the contractors out and put them to pasture,” Siler wrote in a 2012 post. “Wonder if Tony Stark would be so patient… …”