Early Bitcoin Adopter Roger Ver Asks President Trump To Save Him From Extradition After Tax Evasion Charges

Bitcoin Cash ( BCH ) pioneer and early crypto adopter Roger Ver is pleading with President Donald Trump for a pardon.

Ver posted a video on the social media platform X claiming to be the victim of “lawfare.”

“As I’m filming this, this might be my very final moments of freedom. By later tonight in Spain I could very well be in a Spanish prison on my way back to the United States to face life in prison, up to 109 years. Not because I’ve done anything wrong, but because of my activism within cryptocurrency.

But there are some people who hate America. They’ve used lawfare against people who are spreading American ideals. And if there’s anybody who knows what it’s like to be the victim of lawfare for spreading American ideals, it’s Donald Trump. They’re doing the exact same thing to me that they’ve done to you.”

Ver, an early Bitcoin ( BTC ) investor who later decided to support the BCH fork, was arrested in Spain in late April at the direction of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). He faces multiple charges, including mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns.

Despite renouncing his United States citizenship in 2014 after obtaining citizenship in Saint Kitts and Nevis, authorities say Ver should have filed tax returns that reported capital gains from the sale of his worldwide assets, including his Bitcoin, and reported the fair market value of his assets.

It remains unclear whether Trump will be receptive to Ver’s plea: Elon Musk, the president’s highest-profile supporter, argues that the BCH pioneer shouldn’t receive a pardon.

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

Ver was a vocal “big-blocker” in the  Bitcoin Blocksize War  who wanted to increase BTC block sizes to enable cheaper, faster transactions. “Small blockers” like Blockstream chief executive Adam Back argued that Bitcoin’s original 1MB-sized blocks kept the network decentralized.

Ver claims that propaganda, possibly from US intelligence agencies, was spread to trick people into believing it was important to keep the BTC block sizes small.

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