The lawsuit brought by D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine accuses billionaire Michael Saylor of evading $25 million in D.C. income taxes.
, which Racine filed Aug. 22 in D.C. Superior Court, alleges that Saylor has for years fraudulently claimed to be a resident of lower-tax jurisdictions despite living in a 7,000-square-foot penthouse on the Georgetown waterfront. The complaint further alleges that MicroStrategy, despite knowing Saylor was a D.C. resident, conspired in the scheme “instead of accurately reporting his address to local and federal tax authorities and correctly withholding District taxes.
Saylor said in his statement that he bought the Miami Beach home a decade ago after moving from Virginia."Although MicroStrategy is based in Virginia, Florida is where I live, vote, and have reported for jury duty, and it is at the center of my personal and family life,” he wrote. “I respectfully disagree with the position of the District of Columbia, and look forward to a fair resolution in the courts.
announcing the leadership change, MicroStrategy said that Saylor would also remain chairman of its board of directors. “The case is a personal tax matter involving Mr. Saylor,” the statement said. “The Company was not responsible for his day-to-day affairs and did not oversee his individual tax responsibilities. Nor did the Company conspire with Mr. Saylor in the discharge of his personal tax responsibilities.”False Claims Act, which the D.C. Council last year amended to include tax-related issues, and incentivizes whistleblowers to identify tax fraud.