NFT trader faces prison for $13M tax fraud on CryptoPunk profits

The trader sold 62 CryptoPunk NFTs in 2021, earning approximately $7.4 million in profit, followed by the sale of 35 more in 2022 for an additional $4.9 million.

A non-fungible token (NFT) trader could face up to six years in prison after pleading guilty to underreporting nearly $13 million in profits from trading CryptoPunks, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Waylon Wilcox, 45, admitted to filing false income tax returns for the 2021 and 2022 tax years. The former CryptoPunk investor pleaded guilty on April 9 to two counts of filing false individual income tax returns, federal prosecutors said in an April 11 press release.

Back in April 2022, Wilcox filed a false individual income tax return for the tax year 2021, which underreported his income tax by roughly $8.5 million and reduced his tax due by approximately $2.1 million.

Read more