Federal prosecutors have asked a California court to dismiss the criminal indictment against Roger Ver, the early Bitcoin investor known as “Bitcoin Jesus,” after he reached a settlement to resolve tax charges linked to his crypto holdings.
In a filing on Tuesday with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the Justice Department submitted a proposed order for Judge Michael Fitzgerald to dismiss the case without prejudice. The government said Ver agreed to pay $49.9 million in taxes, penalties and interest owed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) related to his Bitcoin portfolio.
The proposed dismissal follows a deferred prosecution agreement filed in September. Under the terms, Ver admitted he was required to report and pay taxes on certain crypto assets before renouncing his U.S. citizenship in 2014. He also acknowledged filing inaccurate tax returns in 2016 that omitted his full Bitcoin holdings and capital gains.
Ver was indicted in April 2024 on charges of tax evasion and mail fraud. Prosecutors alleged he failed to declare ownership of about 131,000 Bitcoins, valued at roughly $74 million in 2014, before renouncing his citizenship and moving to St. Kitts and Nevis. The Justice Department said the omissions resulted in a loss to the U.S. Treasury exceeding $16.8 million.
According to the government’s filing, “as defendant admitted, when he filed his returns in May 2016, they did not report ownership of all these bitcoins and did not report capital gains from the constructive sale of all of these bitcoins.”
The deferred prosecution deal allows Ver to avoid criminal conviction if he completes his obligations, including full repayment to the IRS. A dismissal without prejudice would permit prosecutors to refile charges if the agreement is breached, though such reversals are rare once payment terms are met.
Ver’s legal team did not oppose the government’s motion, a sign the case is close to being resolved. The entrepreneur has previously argued that his prosecution was politically motivated, describing it as an example of “lawfare.”
Once a prominent figure in Bitcoin’s early ecosystem, Ver earned his nickname “Bitcoin Jesus” for promoting the cryptocurrency during its first adoption wave. He later became a vocal supporter of Bitcoin Cash, following its 2017 split from Bitcoin’s main blockchain.
Though Ver has lived outside the United States for nearly a decade, his case has drawn attention from the crypto industry and U.S. regulators monitoring unreported offshore crypto assets. It also underscores the growing reach of the IRS in enforcing tax obligations tied to digital currencies, especially for former citizens.
Despite the likely dismissal, Ver’s name remains active on prediction platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi. Traders were assigning 17% to 19% odds of Ver receiving a presidential pardon from Donald Trump as of Tuesday, according to market data. The bets would only pay out if Ver were granted an official pardon, commutation, or reprieve by year‑end.
Ver publicly appealed to Trump for clemency in January, claiming he was targeted unfairly for his involvement in the early cryptocurrency movement. Neither Trump’s campaign nor the Justice Department has commented on the request.
If the court approves the dismissal, Ver’s decade‑long dispute with U.S. tax authorities would effectively end, though his case remains a reference point in the government’s broader efforts to enforce compliance among early crypto investors who left the country during Bitcoin’s rise.