John McAfee, founder of McAfee, one of the first to market antivirus software, was accused of fraud and money laundering using schemes involving the use of cryptocurrencies. This was announced by a source with reference to the US Department of Justice.
Authorities have accused McAfee and his bodyguard Jimmy Gale Watson Jr of using large Twitter followers to artificially inflate altcoin prices through a so-called “pump and dump” scheme, and hiding payments McAfee received from startups to promote the initial emissions of cryptocurrencies.
The Justice Department said the attackers received more than $ 13 million in this way. The charges were brought in federal court in Manhattan.
Last October, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission also filed civil charges against McAfee in connection with the alleged use of a “pump and dump” scheme. He allegedly hid more than $ 23.1 million from the state, which he received for promoting seven cryptocurrency proposals on Twitter. Examples of assets that McAfee advertised between December 2017 and February 2018 are Verge, Reddcoin, and Dogecoin.
McAfee himself is now in custody in Spain after being arrested at the request of the US authorities in connection with a tax evasion charge against him last October.
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