Roger Ver was allowed to leave prison on May 17 after posting bail of 150,000 euros (about $163,000). However, he was presented with a condition — Ver is obliged to stay in Spain and hand over his passport to law enforcement agencies. The founder Bitcoin.com He must also appear in court every two days. The prosecutor's appeal for Vera's release was rejected.
Spanish police arrested Roger Vera in May this year at the request of the US authorities. They are seeking Vera's extradition to face charges of tax fraud. According to the US Department of Justice, Ver did not report on capital gains and did not pay taxes on his bitcoins, which he began to purchase in 2011. In 2017, Ver sold about $240 million worth of bitcoins, but did not report this transaction to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The agency claims that Ver did not pay at least $48 million to the treasury of the American state. In 2014, Ver renounced his U.S. citizenship and became a citizen of the state of Saint Kitts and Nevis. However, the entrepreneur was still required to file tax returns with the IRS, reporting income from certain assets.
Roger Vera's lawyer Jaime Campaner assured that his client was not hiding from justice, as he maintained contact with the US authorities through his lawyers in California. He was aware of the investigation, so arresting Vera did not make sense, the lawyer said.
A few days ago, Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance's largest crypto exchange, began serving a prison sentence. Last weekend, he arrived at a high-security federal prison, where he will stay for four months.