According to CNBC, the Washington, D.C. Attorney General’s Office announced on Monday (3rd) that MicroStrategy, a U.S. publicly listed company holding a large amount of Bitcoin, and its founder Michael Saylor have agreed to pay $40 million to settle a tax fraud lawsuit.
Attorney General Brian Schwalb alleged in a civil complaint filed in 2023 that Saylor had impersonated a resident of low-tax areas such as Florida and Virginia from 2005 to 2021, evading over $25 million in Washington, D.C. income taxes, while his actual residence was a luxury penthouse in Washington.
The Washington, D.C. Attorney General accused Saylor and MicroStrategy of tax evasion, claiming that the company helped its founder conceal his residency in Washington, D.C., in order to avoid paying higher income taxes. It is also alleged that MicroStrategy did not pay the required corporate taxes for employing residents of Washington, D.C., with Saylor being just one of them.
According to The New York Times, Saylor has objected to these accusations, stating:
