Waylon Wilcox of Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, aged 45, has pled guilty to filing false income tax returns that omitted more than $13 million from digital artwork sales. During an appearance in federal court before Senior United States District Judge Malachy E. Mannion on April 9, 2025, Wilcox admitted to the charges as part of a two-count criminal information document.
Court records reveal that Wilcox filed a false tax return in Cumberland County for the 2021 tax year, underreporting his income by roughly $8,511,238, which resulted in a tax shortfall of about $2,180,452. In a similar fashion, his 2022 tax return falsely reported his income by an understatement of approximately $4,599,532, decreasing his tax obligation by around $1,098,623.
The unreported income originated from trading digital artwork, specifically 97 pieces from the "CryptoPunks" collection. Each unique piece, known as a "Punk," comes with digital proof of ownership and is maintained on a blockchain. These tokens, classified as non-fungible due to their unique properties, are sold and traded both for money and cryptocurrency.
In 2021, Wilcox sold 62 Punks, generating about $7,402,935, while in 2022, 35 Punks were sold for approximately $4,899,180. His tax returns for these years falsely claimed no financial interest disposal in virtual currency or digital assets.
"IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to unraveling complex financial schemes involving virtual currencies and non-fungible token (NFT) transactions designed to conceal taxable income," stated Yury Kruty, Special Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia Field Office. "In today’s economic environment, it’s more important than ever that the American people feel confident that everyone is playing by the rules and paying the taxes they owe."
The Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation carried out the inquiry, with Assistant U.S. Attorney David C. Williams overseeing prosecution. If found guilty, Wilcox faces a potential six-year prison term, supervised release, and a fine, based on federal sentencing statutes and guidelines.