Former US President Donald Trump’s second ex-spouse, Marla Maples, has expressed her backing for terminating the nation’s legal action against early Bitcoin proponent Roger Ver, commonly referred to as “Bitcoin Jesus.”
“Distributing more info [regarding] the appeal to dismiss the prosecution against Roger Ver,” Maples remarked in a March 16 X post, sharing a video produced by a group dedicated to supporting Ver while tagging Trump, Elon Musk, and US Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The Department of Justice accused Ver of mail fraud, tax evasion, and filing fraudulent tax returns in April 2024, claiming he concealed the volume of Bitcoin (BTC) he possessed upon renouncing his US citizenship in 2014 and deceived the Internal Revenue Service out of $48 million by neglecting to declare the profits he earned from their sale.
Distributing more info regarding the appeal to cease the prosecution of Roger Ver @PamBondi @elonmusk @realDonaldTrump @Davewarrington https://t.co/BckQwEXBW6
— marla maples (@itsmarlamaples) March 16, 2025
Maples and Trump first crossed paths in the mid-1980s during his initial marriage to Ivana Trump, and she was his second wife from 1993 to 1999. She has consistently participated in charitable activities and has promoted various organizations and causes.
She appears to maintain a close relationship with Trump, with whom she shares a daughter, Tiffany Trump. Maples participated in Trump’s inauguration and stated to the London Evening Standard in July that she was “open to whatever way that I can serve” the then-presidential candidate.
Maples joins a number of prominent personalities urging an end to the prosecution of Ver, including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and online black market Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, who was serving a double life sentence until Trump pardoned him in January.
Ver has reached out to Trump for a pardon, asserting that he is being unjustly targeted and is a victim of “lawfare.”
Neither Trump nor the White House has publicly reacted to Ver’s request, but Trump’s cost-reducing czar Musk remarked in a January X post that Ver “gave up his US citizenship. No pardon for Ver. Membership has its privileges.”
Related: Roger Ver’s Trump pardon plea: ‘Lawfare’ victim or tax evader?
Ver was apprehended in Spain at the time of the US indictment awaiting his extradition to the US but was eventually released on bail under the condition he stay in the country.
He sought to dismiss the government’s claim in December, contending that the allegations were unconstitutional, and that the IRS’ “exit tax” for renounced citizens is “inscrutably vague” in relation to cryptocurrency.
Cointelegraph has reached out to Maples for her input.
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