US Moves to Dismiss Roger Ver Tax Case After $49.9M Settlement

Federal prosecutors have asked a California court to dismiss the criminal case against Roger Ver, the early Bitcoin investor known as "Bitcoin Jesus," after he agreed to pay nearly $50 million to settle tax charges tied to his crypto holdings.

In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the Department of Justice requested that Judge Michael Fitzgerald dismiss the indictment without prejudice. The government said Ver had fulfilled the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement reached in September, which required repayment of $49.9 million in back taxes, penalties, and interest to the Internal Revenue Service.

Ver's case dates back to a 2024 indictment that accused him of failing to report ownership of roughly 131,000 Bitcoins—worth about $74 million at the time—before renouncing his U.S. citizenship in 2014. Prosecutors alleged the omissions cost the U.S. Treasury more than $16 million and that his 2016 tax filings failed to disclose capital gains from those assets.

According to court documents, Ver admitted his reporting obligations and agreed to cooperate with tax authorities as part of the settlement. The agreement allows prosecutors to reopen the case if he fails to meet its conditions, though such reversals are uncommon once full payment has been made.

Ver's legal team did not oppose the motion to dismiss, signaling an end to one of the most closely watched crypto-related tax cases to date. The Justice Department characterized the settlement as evidence of its commitment to pursuing unreported crypto assets, particularly among U.S. expatriates.

Ver, who earned his nickname for promoting Bitcoin in its early years, has since become a supporter of Bitcoin Cash, the cryptocurrency that split from Bitcoin's blockchain in 2017. He has spent most of the past decade living in St. Kitts and Nevis, where he obtained citizenship after giving up his U.S. passport.

The case has drawn attention within the crypto industry as an indicator of how the IRS handles complex cross-border tax disputes involving digital assets. It also underscores Washington's expanding enforcement efforts in the crypto space, as regulators seek to close loopholes around offshore holdings.

Despite the likely dismissal, Ver's name remains active on prediction platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi, where traders speculate about a potential presidential pardon. As of this week, betting markets were assigning around 18% odds of clemency from Donald Trump — an outcome that, if granted, would cap a decade-long legal saga linking crypto's early evangelists with U.S. tax enforcement's new frontier.