Entrepreneur John McAfee was formally charged with seven counts of fraud and money laundering. The case will be considered by the Court of the Southern District of New York.
John David McAfee and executive adviser of his cryptocurrency team indicted in Manhattan federal court for fraud and money laundering conspiracy crimes https://t.co/A96USZb6pC
— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) March 5, 2021
Another person involved in the process will be the executive advisor of the cryptocurrency team of the entrepreneur Jimmy Gail Watson Jr., who was taken into custody the day before. McAfee was arrested in Spain in October 2020 and is awaiting extradition to the United States.
The first accusation concerns the scheme of pumps and dumps of altcoins on Twitter. McAfee posted tweets advertising individual coins, which led to their strong growth. This was used by members of his team, who took profit.
The second point of accusation concerns undisclosed fees for participating in the promotion of the ICO.
“McAfee and Watson made nearly $ 2 million by using social media to perform pump and dump schemes. They also used the same platform to promote the sale of tokens without disclosing information about the rewards received from the organizers of the ICO. This brought them another $ 11 million, ”the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The proceeds were laundered through banking operations with the participation of an unnamed member of McAfee’s team.
The maximum sentence on seven counts could be one hundred years in prison. Also, McAfee and the executive advisor of the cryptocurrency team may be fined.
In the summer of 2018, the entrepreneur promised to fight the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “until his last breath.” He called the decision of the regulator, made in those days, to recognize ICO-tokens as securities “absurd”.
The day after these announcements, he announced that he had stopped working with ICOs and recommending them due to a warning from the SEC.
In October 2020, McAfee announced that he was satisfied with the way his days in prison were going.
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