A judge has dismissed part of a major lawsuit by D.C.’s attorney general that sought tens of millions of dollars from a former tech CEO and bitcoin investor who officials allege failed to pay city income taxes for years and bragged about it, according to court records.
The high-profile case against former MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor was the first brought under a revised D.C. law that city officials hope will allow them to collect millions in unpaid taxes, plus damages, from wealthy tax cheats.
But D.C. Superior Court Judge Yvonne Williams ruled the city failed to meet the criteria to bring a claim under D.C.’s False Claims Act in the first test of the law in court. If the legal action had been successful, D.C. might have collected as much as $150 million from Saylor.
Williams ruled D.C. can still pursue the part of the lawsuit seeking $25 million in alleged unpaid taxes, additional interest and penalties the city contends Saylor avoided by claiming to live elsewhere while actually residing in the District between 2005 and 2021.
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Saylor says he is a resident of Florida and denies any wrongdoing in legal filings. His attorneys did not respond to a request for comment on the judge’s ruling, but Saylor said in a previous statement Florida is “the center of my personal and family life.”
The Office of D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb, which inherited the case from his predecessor Karl A. Racine, did not indicate in a statement whether the city would...
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