Roger Ver filed a lawsuit with the ECHR against extradition to the USA

The founder of Bitcoin.com, Roger Ver, has filed a lawsuit against Spain in the European Court of Human Rights. He intends to challenge the extradition decision to the USA, where he faces up to 109 years in prison for tax fraud, writes Bloomberg Law.

Spanish authorities arrested the "Bitcoin Jesus" in 2024 at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice. Later, Ver was released on bail of $163,000. However, he was banned from leaving the country, had his passport confiscated, and was required to check in at court every two days. American prosecutors are seeking the extradition of the founder of Bitcoin.com.

In 2014, Ver renounced his US citizenship and obtained a passport from the Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. According to the investigation, he intentionally undervalued his bitcoins in his declaration at that time to avoid paying an exit tax of $48 million. In 2017, the creator of Bitcoin.com allegedly also misappropriated 70,000 BTC (~$240 million) from the corporate accounts of his companies — MemoryDealers and Agilestar.

On December 3, 2024, "Bitcoin Jesus" filed a motion to dismiss all eight counts of the indictment. Ver stated that the exit tax contradicts the U.S. Constitution. He described the prosecutors' arguments as "vague" and accused U.S. authorities of political persecution.

In the latest lawsuit, the founder of Bitcoin.com accused the Spanish authorities of violating his rights. According to Vera, law enforcement illegally interrogated his lawyers and ignored all evidence of his innocence.

Trump's Pardon and Support for Buterin

In January, Ver sent a pardon request to Donald Trump. Before that, the President of the USA fulfilled his election promise and pardoned the founder of the darknet marketplace Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht.

Later, Trump's ex-wife Marla Maples advocated for the end of the criminal prosecution of Ver. She retweeted a video titled "Who is Roger Ver?" created by a public support group for the entrepreneur Freerogernow, asking to share it as "additional information to the call to stop the prosecution."

However, Trump’s former ally and Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that they cannot help the "Bitcoin Jesus" because he voluntarily renounced his American citizenship.

Roger Ver gave up his US citizenship. No pardon for Ver. Membership has its privileges.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2025

In March, Vitalik Buterin spoke in support of Vera. The co-founder of Ethereum noted that the case against the founder of Bitcoin.com is politically motivated.

Let us remind you that Casa's CTO, Jameson Lopp, suggested that the "Bitcoin Jesus" does not agree to a pre-trial settlement either out of principle or due to a lack of funds.