[...]your thoughts on the likely resolution of all this...even it goes all the way to trial and verdict....need a wider view on this then my own narrow view I think
OK, so:
100% fine/settlement between FTC and BFL;
99% Bankruptcy of BFL;
80% BFL senior staff will get some sort of beef with some kind of Tax collection agency (fines, repo's et cetera); and,
20% Sonny goes to jail because of parole violation...
<10% some legal agency goes after the principals on some ground of criminal behaviour and asks for further jail-time...
my 2c...
Ah...good point I forgot ..in USA in 2013 they have the 2013 IRS Guidelines on Virtual Mining...I doubt those involved as 'indivituals' (josh, etc) did any of this at
all...thus after FTC is done...they may very well refer them to the IRS and then Josh and company will have to show they did not pay 'taxes' at the 25% rate the
IRS expected you to from the guidelines...they could be screwed yet (good to know)
By the by in the USA the IRS ASSUMES you are honest on your 'self-reporting' of Taxes...but god help you if they find out you have not been......then they go
ruthless...finding out about a whole bunch of individuals mining from march 2013 on and not reporting it on taxes would be a very very big deal...I think the
mandatory jail time on such if convicted is 1 year and 1 day (thou that maybe can be waived and modified by judge) ..heh forgot about the IRS angle..so you have
shed some light against them likely walking completely (i hope)
From the guidelines link here Question 8 below (link)
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-14-21.pdfQ-8: Does a taxpayer who “mines” virtual currency (for example, uses computer
resources to validate Bitcoin transactions and maintain the public Bitcoin
transaction ledger) realize gross income upon receipt of the virtual currency
resulting from those activities?
A-8: Yes, when a taxpayer successfully “mines” virtual currency, the fair market value
of the virtual currency as of the date of receipt is includible in gross income. See
Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, for more information on taxable
income
Not likely to get caught on this if a small time USA miner...however ...with FTC already investigating..the IRS will likely look at this ..in that case it is the 'conspiracy' to
not pay taxes on such which would be the big deal..not the amount imho. The could really have walked into a 'buzz saw' by screwing with us and getting the FTC involved