Efe Nail Saltık 
MicroStrategy and Michael Saylor settled the tax lawsuit with a $40 million settlement. Michael Saylor faced tax evasion allegations in August 2022. Since then, he has allegedly struck the largest income tax fraud deal in the history of the District of Columbia.
Technology firm MicroStrategy and its pro-Bitcoin founder Michael Saylor have reached a $40 million settlement to end a lawsuit accusing him of income tax evasion.
The New York Times reported that the District of Columbia District Attorney reached a $40 million settlement with Saylor and software company MicroStrategy.
Local officials deemed the deal the “largest income tax fraud payback” in the region, according to the report. This is reportedly the first lawsuit filed under the District of Columbia’s amended False Claims Act, bringing tax evasion claims against residents who allegedly concealed residence information.
The District of Columbia filed a lawsuit in August 2022 against Saylor and his company MicroStrategy, who allegedly lived there for at least 10 years, for allegedly failing to pay at least income taxes.
Allegedly, the company helped Saylor evade DC income taxes by over $25 million. Experts initially suggested Saylor could be fined $75 million.
The tax fraud case forced Saylor to resign as CEO of MicroStrategy in August 2022, 33 years after he founded the firm. Immediately thereafter, he assumed the new role of president and continued as chairman of the board.
Although he stepped down as CEO, Saylor continued to maintain MicroStrategy’s image as a Bitcoin-friendly company and regularly announced new Bitcoin purchases on his social media account.
One of MicroStrategy’s last major purchases was in March 2024, when the firm purchased 12,000 BTC via an $800 million convertible note.
According to the company’s latest update, MicroStrategy owned 214,400 Bitcoins on May 1, 2024, at an average purchase price of $35,000, for a total cost of approximately $7.5 billion.
Saylor has emerged as a prominent Bitcoin bull and technology advocate due to his large investments and notable Bitcoin-related activities on social media. He is a prominent figure in the cryptocurrency community and is frequently invited as a speaker at industry conferences.
But Saylor isn’t exactly an early Bitcoin adopter. Saylor’s transformation into a Bitcoin billionaire began in 2020, when he announced on Twitter that he had personally purchased 17,732 BTC for $175 million.
Before this announcement, Saylor could be described more as an anti-Bitcoin. “Due to the lack of a credible sponsor, Bitcoin is in imminent danger of regulating its existence,” he wrote on December 7, 2013.
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