The Supreme Court of the District of Columbia rejected a civil complaint against the American business analytics company MicroStrategy, which claimed that the firm helped its co-founder Michael Saylor evade income tax.
According to a recent filing, Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy filed a motion to dismiss the complaint in October, and on Feb. 28, the court ruled in favor of the request.
Court rejects civil appeal against MicroStrategy
Recall that in August, the District of Columbia Washington, through its Attorney General’s Office, sued Sailor for evading income tax for more than a decade and MicroStrategy for helping a bitcoin supporter red-handed.
The case, which was the first under the newly amended District of Columbia False Claims Act, required payment of up to $25 million in income taxes owed and undisclosed amounts in triple damages, civil penalties and other benefits.
Sailor was accused of claiming to live in Florida, a state not subject to income tax, but to live in Washington. The complaint alleged that he obtained a driver’s license and registered to vote in Florida, posing as a resident there. Meanwhile, the former CEO maintained his residence in Washington for at least 183 days during taxable years. The publicly traded company was accused of knowing about Saylor’s false claims as a Resident of Florida and helping him substantiate them.
Saylor will appear in court next week.
After the lawsuit was filed, Sailor and his company filed a motion asking the court to dismiss both complaints against them. Now, the court has ruled to drop the charges against MicroStrategy. The court also noted that the charges against Sailor had not been dropped and the former CEO was due to appear in court on March 10.
