Bitcoin Jesus sues Spanish courts to fight extradition to US over $48 million tax evasion charge
Roger Ver, the self-proclaimed “Bitcoin Jesus,” arrested last year in Spain on behalf of the US Justice Department (DoJ) over a $48 million crypto tax evasion charge, is suing the Spanish government to avoid extradition and stand trial in the US.
An early promoter of Bitcoin cryptocurrency, since he began collecting the coin in 2011, Ver is facing criminal charges of mail fraud, tax evasion, and filing false tax returns – all related to a 2017 sale of about 70,000 crypto tokens, worth $240 million at the time.
The infamous crypto investor, blockchain guru, founder, and former CEO of Bitcoin.com, had denounced his US citizenship and was living in St. Kitts and Nevis when the feds indicted him back in April 2024.
He was subsequently arrested in Spain, where authorities approved a US extradition request to send the 46-year-old back to Los Angeles to stand trial on the charges.
Now, Ver and his lawyers have filed a lawsuit in the European Court of Human Rights looking to overturn that extradition based on claims Spain’s ruling “violated his legal protections,” according to a recent report from Bloomberg.
The lawsuit claims the extradition order “amounts to a clear denial of justice and a breach of the rules governing extradition procedures,” and that Spanish authorities “should have refused the surrender of Ver to the United States to avoid illegitimate restrictions on his right to liberty.”
The European Court of Human Rights had told the news outlet that the case was “under consideration” but could not provide any other information.
Political target or guilty as charged?
At one point, Ver had tried to lobby Trump for a presidential pardon after he retook the Oval Office in January by pleading his case on social media. Ver has also created his own advocacy website to fight the "unjust prosecution."
Mr. President, I am an American, and I need your help. Only you, with your commitment to justice, can save me @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/WhVTZ1M1GB
undefined Roger Ver (@rogerkver) January 26, 2025
After seeing the videos posted on X, even Elon Musk had little sympathy for the Bitcoin Jesus, stating, “Roger Ver gave up his US citizenship. No pardon for Ver. Membership has its privileges,”
However, there are still many high-profile individuals who have shown support for Ver on social media, including about 98,000 petitioners on the 'Free Roger Now charity website.
The DoJ has accused Ver of providing “false or misleading information” about the amount of bitcoin he owned to the appraisers hired to value his two companies in 2017, MemoryDealers and Agilestar, as well as withholding information about the $240 million crypto sales to the accountants hired to handle the tax filing, as well as not reporting the gains on his personal US tax return as legally required by the IRS.
Ver’s lawyer, who says an arrest should never have been made in the first place, alleges Spanish authorities failed to assess the legal “uncertainty and insecurity” surrounding the tax treatment of cryptocurrencies in the US during the period covered by the indictment.
On May 17th, court documents seen by Bloomberg showed Ver was released on €150,000 ($163,000) bail on the condition he remained on the island of Mallorca, handed over his passport to authorities, and attend check-ins with the court every two days. It's unclear if and when the European Court of Human Rights plans to decide on the case.
Calling himself a political scapegoat for spreading cryptocurrency and voluntaryist ideals, Ver claims he’s done “everything possible to comply fully with tax laws.”
“The fact they indicted me anyway, despite my best efforts and full willingness to comply, proves beyond doubt this is a political persecution. I need the public’s help to end it, he said on X in March.
