Michael Saylor, the billionaire Bitcoin (BTC) investor and founder of MicroStrategy (MSTR), has settled a tax fraud lawsuit for $40 million U.S.
The tax fraud case had been brought against Saylor by the Washington D.C. Attorney General and accused him of evading more than $25 million U.S. of income taxes by posing as a resident of lower-tax states such as Florida and Virginia.
The tax evasion is alleged to have occurred between 2005 and 2021, according to the civil lawsuit brought by the Washington, D.C. Attorney General’s Office.
Saylor’s actual home, the lawsuit alleged, is a luxury penthouse apartment in Washington, D.C. on the Georgetown waterfront where he keeps a yacht.
Saylor founded Virginia-based MicroStrategy in 1989 as a software and data analytics firm. He took the company public in 1998 and served as its chief executive officer (CEO) until 2022 when he stepped down and assumed the role of executive chairman.
In 2020, Saylor moved MicroStrategy into the cryptocurrency market and has since amassed billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin on the company’s balance sheet.
Saylor’s net worth is currently estimated at $4.60 billion U.S. by Forbes magazine. He holds a 13% stake in MicroStrategy stock.
The D.C. attorney general had charged both Saylor and MicroStrategy with tax evasion, claiming that the company helped its founder disguise his Washington, D.C. residency.
MicroStrategy has also been charged by the D.C. attorney general of failing to pay the corporate taxes required for a company employing Washington residents, of which Saylor is only one.
According to the attorney general’s lawsuit, Saylor has lived in the same luxury apartment overlooking Georgetown’s waterfront since 2005.
The stock of MicroStrategy has increased 452% over the last 12 months and currently trades at $1,524.49 U.S. per share.
