According to a statement from the D.C. Attorney General, Karl Racine, Michael Saylor and the business he created, MicroStrategy, are facing legal action in Washington, D.C. for tax fraud. The complaint claims that Saylor illegally claimed to be a resident of a lower tax jurisdiction while retaining his residence in Washington, D.C., in order to evade paying income taxes to the state of Washington, D.C. In addition, the complaint claims that Saylor and the cloud software provider MicroStrategy colluded by purposefully hiding Saylor's real address from state and municipal tax authorities.
The Attorney General's office claims in its complaint that Saylor "fraudulently represented" to be a resident of either Virginia or Florida in order to benefit from much lower tax rates. His Facebook posts, which are part of the case, however, demonstrate that he continued to reside in Washington, D.C.
The millionaire allegedly boasted about impersonating a Florida resident to avoid paying taxes in the District of Columbia to his close friends. Despite continuing to reside in the district, he registered to vote there and got a driver's licence there.
According to Racine's tweet, this action is the first of its kind to be filed under the recently approved False Claims Act of the District of Columbia. The agency is pursuing Saylor and MicroStrategy to recoup what might total more than $100 million (approximately Rs. 798 crore) in unpaid income taxes and penalties.
The most Bitcoin among publicly traded corporations is held by MicroStrategy, which had 1,29,699 BTC as of June 30. (roughly Rs. 20,765 crore). Saylor, on the other hand, is a well-known proponent of the sector.
The change follows Saylor's resignation as CEO of MicroStrategy in early August, but he continued to serve as board chairman. Saylor also took on a significant executive position with a focus on "Bitcoin acquisition strategy and related Bitcoin advocacy projects."
