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On September 13, 2004, we posted Early Bitcoin Investor Pleads Guilty to Filing Tax Return that Falsely Reported His Cryptocurrency Gains, where we discussed the first public indictment of an individual who underreported the capital gains from a nearly $4 million legal sale of bitcoin and his Guilty plea on   September 12, 2024. 

Now according to Law360, Frank Richard Ahlgren III was sentenced to two years in federal prison On December 12, 2024. He was also ordered by a Texas federal court to pay more than $1 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for the lost tax dollars.

The Prison Sentence Is Just Shy of The 27 Months Prosecutors Requested When They Argued In A Sentencing Memo That It Would Serve As A Needed Warning To Virtual Currency
Users It Said Were "Watching This Case."

Ahlgren was indicted in February and accused of making false returns for 2017 through 2019 and violating structuring laws. He was held without bail as a flight risk, and in September he pled guilty to filing a false return for 2017. In October of that year he sold 640 bitcoins for $5,800 each, reaping gains after buying the bitcoins two years earlier for less than $500 each.

Instead of reporting the true gains on his returns, he claimed he had bought the bitcoins in 2015 for much higher prices. While the highest amount any of the bitcoins traded for in 2015 was $495, Ahlgren claimed he had paid up to $9,400, prosecutors said in a sentencing memo.

Prosecutors also accused Ahlgren of selling bitcoins for $650,000 in 2018 and 2019 and failing to report the sales at all. From 2017 through 2019, he either underreported or didn't report the sale of $4 million worth of bitcoins, the DOJ said. He took sophisticated steps to hide the transactions on the bitcoin blockchain, or public ledger, including disguising his identity using mixers and meeting someone in person to exchange bitcoins for cash.

Ahlgren, who blogged about the virtual currency, knew how to hide transactions on bitcoin's blockchain and exploited the anonymity the system provides, prosecutors said.

"Ahlgren will serve time because he believed his cryptocurrency transactions were untraceable," Acting Special Agent in Charge Lucy Tan of an IRS criminal investigation unit in Texas said in a statement.

Stuart M. Goldberg, acting deputy assistant attorney general of the DOJ's Tax Division, said Ahlgren had earned his sentence when he lied to his accountant about the gains and failed to pay his taxes. 

Have an Unreported Crypto Currency?

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  Contact the Tax Lawyers at

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact us at:
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or Toll Free at 888 8TAXAID (888-882-9243)

Read more at: Tax Times blog

In an Alert entitled "Impact of Ongoing Litigation – Deadlines Stay – Voluntary Submissions Only FinCEN has stated that:

In light of a recent federal court order, reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN and are not subject to liability if they fail to do so while the order remains in force. However, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports.

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) plays a vital role in protecting the U.S. and international financial systems, as well as people across the country, from illicit finance threats like terrorist financing, drug trafficking, and money laundering.  The CTA levels the playing field for tens of millions of law-abiding small businesses across the United States and makes it harder for bad actors to exploit loopholes in order to gain an unfair advantage.

On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, in the case of Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc., et al. v. Garland, et al., No. 4:24-cv-00478 (E.D. Tex.), a federal district court in the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division, issued an order granting a nationwide preliminary injunction that: (1) enjoins the CTA, including enforcement of that statute and regulations implementing its beneficial ownership information reporting requirements, and, specifically, (2) stays all deadlines to comply with the CTA’s reporting requirements. The Department of Justice, on behalf of the Department of the Treasury, filed a Notice of Appeal on December 5, 2024.

Texas Top Cop Shop is only one of several cases in which plaintiffs have challenged the CTA that are pending before courts around the country. Several district courts have denied requests to enjoin the CTA, ruling in favor of the Department of the Treasury. The government continues to believe—consistent with the conclusions of the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Virginia and the District of Oregon—that the CTA is constitutional.

While this litigation is ongoing, FinCEN will comply with the order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for as long as it remains in effect. Therefore, reporting companies are not currently required to file their beneficial ownership information with FinCEN and will not be subject to liability if they fail to do so while the preliminary injunction remains in effect. Nevertheless, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports.

Need Help Filing Your BOI Report?

     Contact the Tax Lawyers at

Marini & Associates, P.A. 

Read more at: Tax Times blog

In light of a recent federal court order, reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN and are not subject to liability if they fail to do so while the order remains in force. However, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports.

Notice of BOI Filing Page The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) plays a vital role in protecting the U.S. and international financial systems, as well as people across the country, from illicit finance threats like terrorist financing, drug trafficking, and money laundering.  The CTA levels the playing field for tens of millions of law-abiding small businesses across the United States and makes it harder for bad actors to exploit loopholes in order to gain an unfair advantage. On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, in the case of Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc., et al. v. Garland, et al., No. 4:24-cv-00478 (E.D. Tex.), a federal district court in the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division, issued an order granting a nationwide preliminary injunction that: (1) enjoins the CTA, including enforcement of that statute and regulations implementing its beneficial ownership information reporting requirements, and, specifically, (2) stays all deadlines to comply with the CTA’s reporting requirements. The Department of Justice, on behalf of the Department of the Treasury, filed a Notice of Appeal on December 5, 2024. Texas Top Cop Shop is only one of several cases in which plaintiffs have challenged the CTA that are pending before courts around the country. Several district courts have denied requests to enjoin the CTA, ruling in favor of the Department of the Treasury. The government continues to believe—consistent with the conclusions of the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Virginia and the District of Oregon—that the CTA is constitutional. While this litigation is ongoing, FinCEN will comply with the order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for as long as it remains in effect. Therefore, reporting companies are not currently required to file their beneficial ownership information with FinCEN and will not be subject to liability if they fail to do so while the preliminary injunction remains in effect. Nevertheless, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports. Need Help Filing Your BOI Report?      Contact the Tax Lawyers at Marini & Associates, P.A.  for a FREE Tax HELP Contact us at: www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com or Toll Free at 888 8TAXAID (888-882-9243)

Read more at: Tax Times blog

The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) released its Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) Annual Report today that details significant cases involving crimes ranging from tax fraud to cybercrime, enhanced domestic and foreign partnerships and investigative statistics from FY24 that took place from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024.

This year’s report highlights several firsts for the agency:

• the first sentencings tied to syndicated conservation easement schemes, 
• the first indictment and guilty plea of a U.S. taxpayer solely for not paying taxes on gains from cryptocurrency sales, 
• the first time Treasury agencies have led a task force and public outreach series to combat fentanyl trafficking, and 
• a historic financial settlement by the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange for violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.

In FY24, IRS-CI initiated more than 2,667 criminal investigations, obtained 1,571 convictions, and reclaimed its 90% conviction rate. The agency’s investigative work identified over $9.1 billion in fraud from tax and financial crimes, obtained court orders totaling $1.7 billion in restitution to the IRS and seized criminal assets totaling approximately $1.2 billion.

Other significant items in this year’s annual report include:

• IRS-CI extended the agency’s international footprint by launching a new attaché post in Nassau, Bahamas, and a Cyber attaché post in Singapore.
• The International Training Team delivered more than 30 trainings to over 930 participants from more than 70 countries. These trainings play a critical role in global partnerships and investigations.
• Combatting cybercrime continued to be a focus for the agency. In FY24 alone, IRS-CI initiated 111 new cybercrime investigations, and defendants in these cases continue to receive prison sentences averaging more than five years.

The report also includes case examples for each U.S. field office, details about the specialized services provided by IRS-CI, and additional statistics about the agency for FY24.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.

Have an IR Criminal Tax Problem?

 Like Your Freedom? 

  Contact the Tax Lawyers at

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com
or Toll Free at 888 8TAXAID (888-882-9243)

Read more at: Tax Times blog