American millionaire John McAfee makes gestures during an interview with AFP on his yacht anchored in the Hemingway Marina in Havana on June 26, 2019.
Antivirus software mogul John McAfee, who had been awaiting extradition from Spain on charges of tax evasion since late last year, on Friday morning had just suffered the legal problems of federal prosecutors in Manhattan. Now, the 75-year-old computer programmer is also accused of fraud and money laundering of $ 13 million.
Prosecutors allege that McAfee and Jimmy Gale Watson Jr., an executive advisor to his cryptocurrency team, who participated in a “pumping and unloading” scheme known as “scalping,” in which they bought large amounts of high-currency cryptocurrencies traded at affordable prices to sell on social media .
“As expected, McAfee and Watson exploited a widely used social media platform and the enthusiasm among investors in the emerging cryptocurrency market to make millions through lies and deceptions,” the U.S. prosecutor said. Audrey Strauss he wrote in a statement. “Defendants allegedly used McAfee’s Twitter account to post messages to hundreds of thousands of their Twitter followers promoting various cryptocurrencies through false and misleading statements to hide their true self-interested motives. McAfee, Watson and other team members McAfee’s cryptocurrencies allegedly raised more than $ 13 million from investors who victimized their fraudulent schemes. Investors should be wary of investment opportunities on social media. “
McAfee now has more than a million followers on its verified Twitter account, where it promoted its other currencies in messages embedded in its criminal complaint.
McAfee tweeted the altcoin recommendations in its verified account without revealing that it had large amounts of it, although it falsely promised transparency, prosecutors say.
Along with other members of its team, McAfee allegedly sold its investment position in this significant short-term price increase generated by its tweets, but the long-term value of altcoin usually decreases significantly in the year following his tweets, according to the complaint.
Prosecutors say the first time McAfee carried out this scheme successfully happened in mid-December 2017, with an altcoin called Virgin (XVG).
On December 21, 2017, an XVG investor pressured McAfee over whether to buy altcoin before promoting it and the antivirus guru falsely denied it, according to prosecutors.
“I haven’t bought any of them at all,” McAfee’s complaint cites in response. “I couldn’t promote it if you owned it.”
Four days after McAfee allegedly promoted XVG in a tweet and on December 13, 2017, the market price of the chips rose more than 500%, according to the complaint.
McAfee and an alleged unidentified conspirator climbed at least 11 more altcoins between December 20, 2017 and January 28, 2018: Electroneum, Burstcoin, DigiByte, Reddcoin, Humaniq, Tron, Factom, Dogecoin, Stellar Lumen, Syscoin and Ripio Credit Network cards, prosecutors say.
Watson, 40, was arrested Thursday night in Texas and will appear before a federal judge there on Friday.
Both McAfee and Watson face a seven-count charge of one charge of conspiracy to commit merchandise and securities fraud, one charge of conspiracy to commit securities and advertising fraud, two charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and two charges of substantial fraud, and a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which entails a possible combined exposure of decades in prison.
Then read his indictment and McAfee’s criminal complaint:
(Photo by ADALBERTO ROQUE / AFP via Getty Images)
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