‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Pays Trump Ally Roger Stone $600,000 to Lobby Against Exit Tax

‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Roger Ver, once known for giving Bitcoin away in the streets of Silicon Valley, has now paid the old political confidant of US President Donald Trump, Roger Stone, $ 600,000 to help him escape a federal criminal case that could land behind the bars for life.

Stone, notorious for his Nixon tattoo and self-proclaimed as a ‘dirty cheaper’, submitted last month lobbying Which indicates that he was assumed in February to impose on the legislators to dismantle US tax provisions that underlie the indictment of the Ministry of Justice of Ver.

In particular, he focuses on the so -called ‘exit tax’, which applies to Americans who are waiting for citizenship, and is central to the $ 48 million in taxes that the doj claims that is far due.

The legal push of far comes in the midst of a pro-Crypto-pivot in the Trump administration, where the branch support and legal reverse reverse have opened the door for clementbreedings and policy reversions.

Last April, the Doj accused far With multiple counts, including postal fraud, tax evasion and the submission of false tax returns.

The agency claims that distant misleading information about his crypto companies has submitted during the preparation of the expats in the US in 2014, and has not reported any capital profits after selling around $ 240 million in Bitcoin In 2017.

He was arrested in Spain that same month and released on a € 150,000 bail in May, on the condition that he surrendered his passport and regularly reports to the authorities while fighting the extradition to the US

In January, far tweeted A video -profession on binding his case to what he called the “armament of justice” under the Biden administration.

“If there is someone who knows what it is like to be the victim of the legislation for spreading American ideals, it is Donald Trump,” said Ver, while images of Biden and Harris played behind him.

The Legal Team of Ver has submitted a motion to reject the case, with the argument that the cited tax laws are vague, outdated and do not offer clear guidance for early adopters of Crypto.

“This prosecution must end,” his lawyers wrote, and accused the Doj of trusting on selectively quoted evidence and the wrong proposal of privileged communication.

STONE, for his part, it is insisting that he did not immediately lobby Trump for a grace.

“I have not lobby any civil servant in the executive … including the president,” he said The New York TimesClarifying that his role is aimed at supporting the legal team of Vers behind the scenes.

But the political subtext is difficult to ignore, as last December the website of Stone a essay With the title “Why Roger deserves a presidential grace.”

Stone itself is no stranger to the inside of a courtroom or presidential clementia. In 2019, the political consultant and the subject of the documentary “Get Me Roger Stone” was 2017 condemned From lying against the congress, messing around with the investigation of the House Intelligence Committee to Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

Sentenced to 40 months in prison, he never served a day when Trump pends his sentence in 2020 and later granted a complete grace.

Crypto Clemency: Who’s in, who’s lobbying

Trump’s second term has already seen a cascade of grace for crypto-linked figures. In January he granted a complete, unconditional grace to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road who served two lifelong penalties plus 40 years.

The US President called the sentence “ridiculous” and said that Ulbricht was the victim of the same “crazy” aimed at him.

In March, Trump Bitmex forgot co-founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed, who had been guilty of breaking the Bank Secrecy Act in 2022.

Now other crypto personalities. Sam Bankman-Gefuurtuurd, founder of the collapsed FTX grant and who is currently sitting for a 25-year imprisonment for deceptive customers, has politically pivoted.

In February he expressed admiration for Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, criticized the ‘inefficiency’ of the Biden government and hinted in current conversations with Republican agents.

“I worked much more with Republicans than previously thought,” said SBF The New York Sun.

For his part, fresh effort can have a grace of the Oval Office. In January, Trump Ally Elon Musk led that far by waiting for his American citizenship, had lost his right to a grace, tweet That, “membership has its privileges.”