Ilya Borisov, a Latvian artist, might spend up to 12 years in prison if found guilty of earning €8.7 million for his NFTs through money laundering, Finbold confirms. A case was filed against him earlier this year, with the court proceedings starting now.
Borisov paid up to €2.2 million as tax in 2021 after consulting with the Latvian State Revenue Service (VID) about unclear regulations with crypto taxes, where he was told to register as a "self-employed person." After finding out that his earnings were frozen, Borisov took to the court to object to this ruling. Upon failing to unfreeze his assets, he made a statement:
"We filed a protest with the court against the decision to seize my accounts dated July 3, 2022. The protest was accompanied by all available documents from the case and files with all my transactions and my activities as an artist."
A big issue for crypto traders and NFT artists is that most governments worldwide have not yet decided how they want to tax crypto earnings. This causes problems, as artists like Ilya Borisov have to pay a lot in tax and can also be accused of something they did not do.
Many are suffering due to the unclear rules on crypto and some end up like Borisov, who has to pay a lot in tax while also trying to free himself from this sticky situation of being accused of money laundering.
