More legal troubles for John McAfee: accused of tax evasion, improper presentation of cryptocurrencies

Published by BBNTEAM at October 5, 2020

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Posted: Monday, October 5, 2020. 9:34 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: A one-two punch of the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is coming after one-time murder suspect here in Belize, John McAfee.

The founder of McAfee Associates Inc. and chief cybersecurity visionary at MGT Capital Investments Inc., according to Bloomberg, is under arrest in Spain and faces extradition to the U.S. on tax evasion charges spanning four years from 2014 to 2018, hiding assets in others’ names. Separately, the SEC sued McAfee for promoting the sale of cryptocurrencies without disclosing that he was being paid to do so. McAfee was quietly indicted in June.

The charges primarily have to do with McAfee’s promotion of cryptocurrencies, as well as speaking engagements, consulting jobs and the sale of the rights to his life story for a documentary. Instead of filing tax returns, he paid his earnings into accounts in others’ names. He faces as much as six years in prison if convicted.

The SEC claimed McAfee failed to disclose that he had been paid more than US$23 million to boost initial coin offerings to Twitter followers between November of 2017 and February of 2018, and knowingly misleading investors by denying such claims when asked. They seek that he returns the funds and be prohibited from taking part in the issuance, purchase or sale of any digital asset securities and unspecified monetary penalties.

In November of 2011, McAfee was (and in fact remains) a person of interest in the murder of neighbour Gregory Viant Faull on Ambergris Caye. He has denied the allegations and refused to submit himself to police, fleeing to Guatemala and then the United States. Last year he was detained in the Dominican Republic for entering the country with a cache of firearms and ammunition

McAfee didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg.

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