TechFlow news — On February 21, according to Cointelegraph, Ross Ulbricht, the recently pardoned founder of Silk Road, called for leniency toward Roger Ver, also known as "Bitcoin Jesus," who is currently facing a lengthy prison sentence over alleged tax evasion.
Ulbricht posted on social platform X that Ver had advocated for him during his imprisonment, and he now hopes to return the favor. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that Ver failed to report substantial capital gains from 131,000 bitcoins—valued at approximately $240 million when sold in 2017—when he renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2014 to become a Japanese national, resulting in a tax shortfall of about $48 million.
Ver currently faces a potential maximum sentence of 109 years. He denies the charges, arguing that one of the obstacles to filing proper expatriation tax forms at the time was the lack of a liquid market for bitcoin.
