The attorney general of the District of Columbia (DC) – Karl Racine – has accused Michael Saylor of defaulting in his tax obligations while living in DC. He also alleged that his company, business intelligence giant MicroStrategy, aided Saylor’s tax defaults. The MicroStrategy executive is one of Bitcoin’s biggest advocates and has openly remained bullish on the number one cryptocurrency even in the current BTC price decline.
Attorney General Racine announced in a tweet thread on Wednesday (August 31, 2022) that DC is suing Saylor for evading income tax returns even though he lived in DC for more than ten years. The lawsuit which was filed in the Superior Court in the District of Columbia names Saylor and MicroStrategy as defendants. According to the document, Saylor claimed to live in Florida which is a state without personal income taxes when he actually lived in DC.
To effectively pretend to be a Florida resident, Saylor obtained his driver’s license and registered to vote in Florida while maintaining his house in DC for more than 183 days in subsequent taxable annums. MicroStrategy also allegedly helped Saylor avoid paying income taxes in the District. The plaintiffs claimed that the company knew of the entrepreneur’s false claims of being a Florida resident.
Meanwhile, from 2005 till today, Saylor’s District tax debt value is reported to be fixed at $25 million. The District of Columbia is seeking the complete payment of income taxes owed, treble damages, civil penalties and other reliefs.
Saylor and MicroStrategy are yet to respond to the allegations at the time of this writing. CryptoPotato previously reported that Saylor stepped down from his position as MicroStrategy’s CEO while keeping his position as the executive chairman of the company’s board. The firm currently holds 129,699 bitcoin ($2.6 billion) as of June, making it the largest holder of Bitcoin among public companies.
Saylor is an ardent bitcoin evangelist who has spent around $4 billion growing the company’s BTC treasury at an average price of $30,664 per coin during his tenure as CEO at MicroStrategy. In his new position as the board’s executive chairman, Saylor said he will shift most of his focus to bitcoin advocacy.
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