The tech entrepreneur’s problems might be far from over as the US authorities indicted him on conspiracy and fraud charges. The businessman, who is currently in Spain’s prison awaiting extradition to America, has more problems to deal with as US authorities would commence investigation regarding the charges.
The new charges are fraud and money laundering, and since America has very strict laws on both areas, McAfee is in for more legal battles. Many countries are working towards beefing up the porous financial system to prevent money laundering, being the primary reason for the agitation for regulatory measures on cryptocurrency. McAfee was indicted by the US attorney for Southern New York district on multiple charges.
McAfee faces more charges in America
The attorney revealed the latest development yesterday morning while announcing that John McAfee has been charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, touting fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The attorney’s office added that another executive in the firm, Jimmy Watson, was arrested in Texas due to the ongoing issues.
Watson is part of the crypto advisory team, meaning that the charges would largely be crypto-related. The latest charges are strictly based on some suspicious crypto-related actives, which the firm is involved in. The authorities first raised the pump and dump issue, which is currently a serious crime against authorities.
The term ‘pump and dump’ means that the group promoted the rise of altcoins by announcing their buys on social media and then selling them immediately; the price climbs due to the new demand for the new coins.
The US authority believes that McAfee and his team orchestrated a pump and dump on social media, thereby being fraudulent in their operations. Interestingly, the entrepreneur holds a lot of influence in the crypto community as he has caused pumps of many altcoins due to his followership.
US attorney alleges McAfee’s involvement in fraud
The second issue is taxation and promoting initial coin offerings without letting people know that the ICOs were paid for. The assistant FBI director, William Sweetney, spoke on the charges and alleged that the businessmen, Watson and McAfee, utilized social media to put up a pump and dump scheme, earning them close to $2 million from the fraud.
The expert also alleged that the individuals utilized Twitter to promote ICOs without telling the public that they were paid. Interestingly, McAfee has previously dared authorities to come after him, which might have been a reason to raise suspicion.
The businessman is currently in the Spanish prison because he had evaded taxes in that region and is waiting to be taken to American for tax evasion charges. But McAfee would probably get more than he bargained for, because when he finally returns to America, more legal problems would surface as he has more than three charges against him due to the alleged e ICO sales and the ‘pump and dump’ scheme.
The crypto space is not new to fraudulent initial coin offerings, as the industry has had many during altcoin’s early years. Now, authorities are stricter regarding ICOs, reading incidences of fraud.
