John McAfee Charged with Crypto Securities Fraud
John McAfee, the founder of the popular antivirus software that bears his name, has been indicted on charges of fraud and money laundering of cryptocurrency securities.
The revolutionary pioneer of internet security is in hot water after he and his bodyguard and “cryptocurrency team” advisor Jimmy Gale Watson Jr., were accused of pumping up the price of certain cryptocurrencies.
Using a large following on Twitter, McAfee allegedly touted certain cryptos to drum up interest from retail investors. McAfee purchased a large quantity of these underrated cryptos or "altcoins'' at inexpensive rates. According to the indictment, before purchasing the coins, McAfee had the intention of bolstering up the coins' price through promotion and advertising. The intention was to boost up the coins' value in a practice called “scalping.” The Justice Department explains, “As alleged, McAfee and Watson exploited a widely used social media platform and enthusiasm among investors in the emerging cryptocurrency market to make millions through lies and deception.”
Mcafee endorsed the cryptos and promoted their value and in doing so, retail investors purchased the coins, resulting in a surge in their value. The indictment explains, “McAfee, Watson, and other McAfee Team members collectively earned more than $2 million in illicit profits from their altcoin scalping activities while the long-term value of the recommended altcoins purchased by investors declined substantially as of a year after the promotional tweets.” The Justice Department alleges the pair used “false and misleading statements to conceal their true, self-interested motives” when promoting the cryptocurrency.
In addition to cashing out for personal gain, Mcafee promoted the endeavors of crypto startups' fundraising events known as initial coin offerings or ICOs. McAfee used the official McAfee Twitter account to advertise these ICOs. McAfee, Watson, and his team failed to disclose that while they were promoting these ICOs, they were being compensated for their participation and did not report their compensation to the SEC as required by federal securities law. Not only did McAfee fail to report the compensation, but he and his team actively took steps to hide their compensation from ICO investors.
McAfee and Watson are both facing seven charges including commodities and securities fraud conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy. Additionally, civil charges have been brought on by both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The charges are the latest notch on McAfee's belt of unusual encounters with the law. As of last week, McAfee was held in detention in Spain and was facing an unrelated charge of criminal tax evasion. In 2019, McAfee found himself in the center of controversy surrounding his former neighbor in Belize, who was murdered in 2012. He was ordered to pay $25 million in damages related to the death. While the antivirus software still bears his name, McAfee left the company in 1994.
McAfee's participation in cryptocurrency securities is one of the latest examples of how businesses are adopting crypto and how these businesses have an impact on the value of a crypto coin.
Billionaire Elon Musk is the latest headliner who has used his business' social media account to share his company’s involvement in certain cryptos. At the close of January when Musk temporarily changed his Twitter bio to #bitcoin, the price of the crypto jumped over $6,000 per coin. The same effect happened after Musk posted a picture of meme crypto Dogecoin. This meme coin, which was created as a joke to poke fun of Bitcoin in its early years, nearly quadrupled in value after Musk's post. Shortly after, the coin lost roughly 50% of its value.
Unlike McAfee however, Musk did not endorse the coin but instead expressed his company's expansion into the currency. In early February, Musk announced that his company purchased $1.5 Billion in Bitcoin and was planning on accepting the currency as payment for Tesla products.
