📣 Texas Crypto Investor Charged for Concealing $4 Million Income
posted 9 Feb 2024
A federal grand jury has confirmed charges against Frank Richard Ahlgren III, a resident of Texas, for filing false tax returns and engaging in deposit manipulation to avoid tax payments. The unreported income is estimated at around $4 million.
Allegedly, a significant portion of this income was derived in 2017 from the sale of 640 BTC ($3.7 million), which was used to purchase real estate. However, Ahlgren significantly underreported his income in his tax declaration, claiming only $21,000. In subsequent years, he reportedly sold the remainder of his initial cryptocurrency holdings for $650,000 without disclosing these transactions.
Taxpayers are legally obliged to report all dealings with cryptocurrencies. Despite Frank's attempts to evade detection through the use of structured bank deposits of cash in amounts less than $10,000 each, the Internal Revenue Service appears to have gathered some information from cryptocurrency exchanges during their investigation.
The Texas Attorney General's Office and the IRS are jointly pursuing the case. If found guilty, Ahlgren could face up to five years in prison for each count, covering charges from income concealment and filing false tax declarations to the structuring of bank transactions.