Pro-Bitcoin MicroStrategy Founder Michael Saylor Agrees To $40 Million D.C. Income Tax Settlement
Outspoken Bitcoin investor and MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor will forfeit $40 million in order to settle income tax fraud litigation brought against him by the Washington D.C. Attorney General’s office, the agency announced Monday.
In August 2022, then D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine announced that his office was pursuing legal action against Saylor for claiming he was a resident of “lower tax jurisdictions” despite “living in a luxury penthouse on the Georgetown waterfront” and docking his yachts on the Potomac riverfront starting in 2005.
According to an official complaint, the crypto-friendly billionaire tech executive used company documents to help mask his real residence in order to evade paying his income tax, costing D.C. “tens of millions of dollars.”
NEW: Michael Saylor – billionaire tech executive and investor – will pay $40 million to the District in the largest income tax fraud recovery in DC history.
Saylor not only broke the law, he openly bragged about his tax evasion scheme and encouraged others to follow his example.
— AG Brian Schwalb (@DCAttorneyGen) June 3, 2024
“MicroStrategy knew that Saylor was in fact a District resident, but instead of accurately reporting his address to local and federal tax authorities and correctly withholding District taxes, the company made and used false records and statements that facilitated Defendant Saylor’s tax avoidance scheme,” the complaint reads in part.
In a series of Monday morning X posts, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb claimed Saylor “openly bragged about his tax evasion scheme and encouraged others to follow his example.”
“Tax cheats freeload off the backs of hardworking, law-abiding, taxpaying Washingtonians while depriving the District of critical
Read more on cryptonews.com
