Trump’s second ex-wife calls for end of prosecution against Roger Ver
Monday, 17 March 2025 ()
US President Donald Trump’s second ex-wife, Marla Maples, has shown support for ending the country’s case against early Bitcoin advocate Roger Ver, known as “Bitcoin Jesus.”
“Sharing more re [regarding] the call to dismiss the prosecution against Roger Ver,” Maples said in a March 16 X post, sharing a video created by an organization aimed at supporting Ver and tagging Trump, Elon Musk and US Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The Department of Justice charged Ver with mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns in April 2024, alleging he hid the amount of Bitcoin (BTC) he owned when he renounced his US citizenship in 2014 and defrauded the Internal Revenue Service out of $48 million by failing to report the gains he made through selling them.
Maples and Trump met in the mid-1980s during his first marriage to Ivana Trump, and was his second wife from 1993 until 1999. She has long been involved with philanthropy and has advocated for multiple charities and causes.
She is seemingly still close to and supportive of Trump, who together have a daughter, Tiffany Trump. Maples attended Trump’s inauguration and told the London Evening Standard in July that she was “open to whatever way that I can serve” the then-presidential bidder.
Maples joins a host of high-profile figures calling to stop the prosecution of Ver, which includes Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and online black market Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, who was facing a double life sentence in prison until Trump pardoned him in January.
Ver has appealed to Trump for a pardon, claiming he is being unfairly persecuted and is a victim of “lawfare.”
Neither Trump nor the White House has publicly acknowledged Ver’s plea, but Trump’s cost-cutting czar Musk said 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 arrested in Spain at the time of the US indictment pending his extradition to the US but was later granted bail on the condition he remain in the country.
He moved to dismiss the government’s case in December, arguing the charges were unconstitutional, and the IRS’ “exit tax” for renounced citizens is “inscrutably vague” when applied to crypto.
Cointelegraph has contacted Maples for comment.
*Magazine: **Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions*
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