U.S. authorities are accusing a crypto hedge fund manager of tax fraud and allegedly filing false tax statements.
In an indictment filed in the Western District of Texas, a former resident of Austin, Texas, Justin Ryan Schmidt, was charged with tax evasion, filing false returns and failing to disclose foreign assets.
According to court filings, U.S. authorities allege that between 2020 and March 2022, Schmidt earned more than US$6 million from his crypto-focused hedge fund but didn’t report any of that income on his tax returns for that period. They also allege that he failed to report millions of dollars that he held in foreign bank accounts.
Additionally, the indictment alleged that Schmidt filed false financial statements after he became a British citizen in November 2021, renounced his U.S. citizenship in March 2022, and moved to the Cayman Islands.
In connection with that move, it’s alleged that he filed a false expatriation statement reporting that his net worth was US$25,000, when it actually exceeded US$2 million.
Finally, it’s alleged that Schmidt didn’t report gains from a property he bought in 2023 for approximately US$5.8 million, which he sold a few months later for approximately US$9 million.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.