OG Bitcoin investor Roger Ver sues Spain to avoid trial in US crypto tax case
Prominent Bitcoin advocate challenges Spanish court's approval of his extradition to the US, alleging violation of legal rights.
Key Takeaways
- Roger Ver has filed a lawsuit at the European Court of Human Rights to stop his extradition to the US.
- The case stems from alleged tax evasion on $240M in crypto sales and a contested 2014 exit tax after renouncing US citizenship.
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Roger Ver has filed a lawsuit against Spain at the European Court of Human Rights, seeking to halt his extradition to the US on charges of evading over $48 million in taxes tied to crypto sales, according to a Bloomberg report.
Ver’s complaint argues that Spain violated his legal protections by approving extradition to Los Angeles, where US prosecutors accuse him of filing a false exit tax return after renouncing US citizenship in 2014. Authorities allege Ver underreported gains from selling $240 million in crypto tokens.
The lawsuit claims Spain’s decision “amounts to a clear denial of justice” and ignores due process concerns, including the legal uncertainty around crypto taxation at the time. Ver’s Spanish attorney says prosecutors also interrogated one of his lawyers and overlooked exculpatory evidence.
Ver previously appealed to President Trump for a pardon, but his lawyer says that request is no longer active. Elon Musk responded on X at the time, stating, “Roger Ver gave up his US citizenship. No pardon for Ver. Membership has its privileges.”
Roger Ver was one of the earliest and most vocal proponents of Bitcoin. He was an early investor in major crypto startups, including Ripple, Kraken, and Blockchain.com, and once claimed to own around 400,000 BTC, worth billions at peak prices. He was also a key backer of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which forked from Bitcoin in 2017 due to disagreements over scaling.
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