The District of Columbia Superior Court has dismissed a civil lawsuit against U.S. business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, which accused it of helping its co-founder Michael Saylor evade income taxes.
Saylor and MicroStrategy filed a motion to dismiss the complaint in October, and the court ruled in favor of the request on Feb. 28, according to a recent filing. Recall that in August, Washington, D.C., through its attorney general’s office, sued Saylor for over a decade of income tax evasion and MicroStrategy for helping Bitcoin supporters take action.
CryptoPotato reported that the case is the first under DC’s just-revised False Claims Act, seeking to pay up to $25 million in owed income taxes and undisclosed amounts in triple damages, civil penalties, and other relief.
Saylor is accused of claiming to live in Florida a state with no income tax but resides in Washington, D.C. He obtained a driver's license and registered to vote in Florida, pretending to be a resident there, the complaint said. Meanwhile, the former CEO lived in Washington, D.C., for at least 183 days during the tax year. The public company is accused of knowing about Sailor's false claims as a Florida resident and helping him corroborate them.
After the lawsuit was filed, Saylor and his company filed motions asking the court to dismiss the two charges against them. The court has now ruled to dismiss the charges against MicroStrategy.
The court also noted that the charges against Saylor have not been dropped and the former CEO is scheduled to appear in court on March 10.
