Frank Richard Ahlgren III, a Satoshi-Era Bitcoin adopter from Texas, has been sentenced to two years in prison for crypto tax fraud.
Ahlgren was found guilty of filing false tax returns and underreporting considerable capital gains from his Bitcoin investments.
The Case Against Ahlgren
Between 2017 and 2019, Ahlgren filed federal tax returns that either misrepresented or completely omitted substantial profits from Bitcoin sales. Notably, Ahlgren began purchasing Bitcoin as early as 2011.
His most notable transaction occurred in 2017 when he sold 640 BTC tokens for $3.7 million. Using the proceeds, he purchased a house in Park City, Utah.
However, Ahlgren misled his accountant during the preparation of his 2017 tax return. In particular, he inflated the purchase price of his Bitcoin holdings, thereby underreporting his actual capital gain from the sale.
In addition to his 2017 false reporting, Ahlgren made further efforts to conceal his Bitcoin transactions in 2018 and 2019. These efforts included transferring Bitcoin through multiple wallets, conducting in-person cash exchanges, and utilizing mixers to obfuscate the source of his transactions.
Despite these efforts to hide his activity, the IRS Criminal Investigation team was able to track the transactions. They uncovered a total tax loss exceeding $1 million.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart Goldberg emphasized that Ahlgren’s attempts to hide his gains would not go unpunished. “Ahlgren believed his crypto transactions were untraceable, but the law applies to everyone, regardless of the medium,” said Goldberg.
Sentencing and Penalties
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman has sentenced Ahlgren to prison, requiring him to pay restitution of $1,095,031 and serve one year of supervised release.
This case marks the first criminal tax evasion prosecution focused exclusively on cryptocurrency. It establishes a precedent as the IRS and Department of Justice ramp up their scrutiny of digital assets.
Notably, Ahlgren’s investment in Bitcoin dates back to 2011, the year that Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, stepped away from the project, leaving behind an unsolved mystery that has intrigued the crypto world ever since. Despite this, Bitcoin has since risen to global prominence.
Similar Bitcoin Tax Evasion Case in the Works
While Ahlgren’s tax evasion case has been settled, Roger Ver, known as “Bitcoin Jesus,” is fighting a $50 million tax evasion indictment. The charges accuse him of failing to pay taxes on the 2017 sale of $240 million worth of Bitcoin.
Similarly, the indictment claims Ver underreported his Bitcoin holdings in 2014 to avoid a higher “exit tax” when renouncing his U.S. citizenship and failed to report capital gains from his 2017 Bitcoin sale.
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