"Bitcoin Jesus" gave up his US citizenship to avoid taxes, and a decade later is hit with nearly $50 million in exit tax.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had reached a deferred prosecution agreement with “Bitcoin Jesus” Roger Ver. Under the agreement, fraud and tax evasion charges against him will be dismissed—provided he pays a penalty of up to $49.9 million. The announcement was made on October 18.

Roger Ver was among the earliest Bitcoin evangelists. In 2011, he acquired large quantities of Bitcoin for under $3 million. In February 2014, seeking to avoid high U.S. tax liabilities, he obtained citizenship in the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis—and renounced his U.S. citizenship the following month. At the time, he and his companies collectively held at least 131,000 BTC, valued at over $70 million based on prevailing prices. He assumed changing nationalities would allow him to leave U.S. tax obligations behind.

However, the U.S.’s stringent “exit tax” regime dashed that plan entirely. Under U.S. tax law, qualifying individuals who renounce citizenship must treat their worldwide assets as if sold the day before expatriation—and pay capital gains tax accordingly. Although Ver reported and paid $1.03 million in taxes, he failed to disclose his personal Bitcoin holdings and significantly undervalued his corporate assets. A decade later, the IRS uncovered his fraudulent tax evasion (which carries no statute of limitations), ultimately compelling him to pay up to $49.9 million in back taxes, penalties, and interest—48 times the amount he originally self-reported.