Roger Ver may be released after paying $48 million, NYT reported

Roger Ver, one of the earliest Bitcoin popularizers, liberal activist, and Bitcoin Cash mastermind, will no longer serve a 109-year prison sentence for tax evasion and mail fraud. He reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to pay him $48 million. Some say this is due to Donald Trump’s pro-cryptocurrency policy, but Trump did not actually pardon Ver.

Looks like Roger Verr will avoid prison

On October 9, 2025, the New York Times reported that Roger Ver had reached a tentative agreement with the Department of Justice. He intends to pay $48 million to end the case against him. The Times cited two anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

The transaction has not been submitted to court, the report suggests. That means you can change it at any time. The Times said the potential case could end up being an example of President Trump’s “year-long government crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry, which is rife with fraud, fraud, and theft.” However, there is no evidence that Mr. Trump is involved in the ongoing settlement of Mr. Barr’s lawsuit.

What brings Mr. Barr’s case somewhat closer to Mr. Trump is that Mr. Barr has hired a lawyer who has worked with Mr. Trump in the past. Mr. Ver’s list of hires includes David Schoen, a lawyer who assisted Mr. Trump in his second impeachment trial, Christopher M. Kise, who defended Mr. Trump in various lawsuits, and Mr. Trump’s colleague Roger Stone. Mr. Schoen insisted on Fox News in January 2025 that Mr. Ver’s prosecution was legal.

Additionally, attempts by Barr and his supporters to contact Trump in the past to ask for a pardon have been unsuccessful.

In January, Elon Musk, who was close to President Trump at the time, briefly stated that Barr could not be pardoned because he had renounced his American citizenship.

Mr. Ver declined to comment. Here’s what Ver wrote in an email to the Times:

“I would like to say more: I will follow the advice of my tax lawyer, as I have done for decades (…) Unfortunately, that means ‘no comment’.”

read more: President Trump pardons BitMEX founder, will “Bitcoin Jesus” Roger Ver be next?

In the case of Mr. Va

Prosecutors say Barr failed to pay $48 million in exit taxes on his bitcoin holdings when he renounced his citizenship and left the country. Barr reportedly sold his Bitcoin in 2017 without notifying his financial lawyer.

Mr. Ver faces up to 109 years in prison for tax evasion and mail fraud. Explaining the mail fraud charges, Barr said they were based on three instances in which he sent letters to the Internal Revenue Service to file taxes. The IRS found these reports to be false. One of the three cases was a duplicate letter requested by the IRS because the IRS did not receive an earlier letter. The letter reportedly could have extended his punishment by several years.

Barr left the country in 2006. He left the country after serving 10 months in prison (plus probation) for selling unlicensed fireworks on eBay. Barr believes the severity of his punishment indicates a political motive behind the incident, as he harshly criticized officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms during a Libertarian event. He once called them “murderers,” citing their involvement in the infamous Waco siege that resulted in the deaths of many minors. Fearing further prosecution, he decided to leave the United States. In 2014, Ver renounced his U.S. citizenship.

Why did so many in the crypto community advocate for a pardon for Barr?

Many in the crypto industry and the libertarian movement advocated for the closure of Mr. Ver’s case. An open letter supporting Var was signed by Charlie Kirk, Vitalik Buterin, Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, Ross Ulbricht and many others.

Vitalik Buterin announced his support for Va on March 1, 2025. He noted that the case against Mr. Va appears to be politically motivated. Mr Buterin stressed that in most other countries there is no such thing as an exit tax and called the citizen tax “extreme”. He concluded that instead of prosecuting Mr. Ver, the state should have given him a chance to pay back the taxes, perhaps with interest and penalties.

Barr started investing in Bitcoin in 2011. He believes that Bitcoin promotes personal economic freedom and has done much to promote Bitcoin. He was an early investor in American cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, Ripple, Blockchain.com, and several other ventures. In addition, he was one of the five founders of the Bitcoin Foundation, which supported the exchange and its customers during the Mt. Gox exchange’s multi-million dollar hack. Some recognize his early Bitcoin evangelism, which earned him the nickname “Bitcoin Jesus,” as critical to the widespread adoption of the cryptocurrency.

Some Bitcoin purists have criticized Barr for being a vocal supporter of Bitcoin Cash, a Bitcoin hard fork with a larger block size. Var considered it to be a true Bitcoin and suitable for frequent transactions. Other critics have suggested that Barr is to blame for his problems with the IRS because he should have paid his taxes correctly.

You may also like: ‘Bitcoin Yes’ Roger Ver fights indictment and denounces US government overreach