Saylor avoided paying taxes in the capital for years, according to the attorney general.
Attorney General Carl Racine announced today that he is bringing civil charges against cloud computing software company MicroStrategy and its founder Michael Saylor over the alleged tax fraud.
MicroStrategy, which owns the largest bitcoin treasury among public companies, helped Sailor “evade the taxes he legally owes on the hundreds of millions of dollars he earned during his stay in the capital”, Racine tweeted today.
Racine described Saylor as “a billionaire technology executive who has lived in the region for more than a decade, but never paid any income taxes in the capital.”
It is the first lawsuit filed by the Attorney General under the recently updated False Claims Act in the capital, which “[encourages] whistleblowers to report to the population evading our tax laws by distorting their stay.”
Saylor had not publicly responded to the procedure, as of this writing.
“Through this lawsuit, we place residents and employers aware that if you enjoy all the benefits of living in our great city while refusing to pay your fair share of taxes, we will hold you accountable,” Racine added in a tweet.
NEW: Today, we’re suing Michael Saylor – a billionaire tech executive who has lived in the District for more than a decade but has never paid any DC income taxes – for tax fraud.
— AG Karl A. Racine (@AGKarlRacine) August 31, 2022
Earlier this month, Saylor resigned from his long role as CEO of MicroStrategy to take over as the new CEO, which he said would enable him to “double down” on the company’s strategy to acquire and retain large amounts of Bitcoin.
As of June 29, Micro Stratge has raised 129699 BTC, which is worth about $2.6 billion today. According to the company, currencies were acquired at an average price of $30, $ 664 apiece, so the company’s investment is currently underwater.
Saylor and MicroStrategy previously settled fraud charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2000, after the company allegedly manipulated its figures and reported false profits despite losing money.