According to Odaily, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that an early Bitcoin investor has admitted to filing false tax returns regarding his cryptocurrency earnings. Texas resident Frank Richard Ahlgren III confessed to underreporting capital gains from the sale of Bitcoin worth $3.7 million.
Court documents reveal that Ahlgren purchased 1,366 Bitcoins in 2015, each valued at less than $500. In October 2017, he sold 640 Bitcoins for approximately $3.7 million and used the proceeds to buy a house in Park City, Utah. However, Ahlgren's 2017 tax return falsely inflated the cost basis of his Bitcoin purchases, resulting in underreported capital gains. Additionally, he failed to report Bitcoin sales totaling $650,000 in 2018 and 2019.
The DOJ stated, "Overall, Ahlgren caused a tax loss of over $550,000 to the IRS." Ahlgren is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date. He faces up to three years in prison, along with a period of supervised release, restitution, and fines. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
