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John McAfee arrested in Spain for tax evasion and other charges

John McAfee, known for creating McAfee, the antivirus company, was arrested in Spain today and is facing extradition to the United States. He is going to be charged for fraud and tax evasion.

The SEC says McAfee was paid more than $23.1 million in cryptocurrency assets to promote ICO token sales without disclosing he was getting paid to do the promotions.

The Department of Justice has also brought several counts of tax evasion into the mix. They allege that McAfee willfully evaded paying income taxes owed to the federal government.

The DOJ’s charges

The DOJ announced the arrest and unsealed indictment documents where they detail the charges and explicitly state that they are not in any way connected to the antivirus company bearing his name.

The details are not too juicy, but they detail ten counts against the controversial figure. McAfee is facing five counts of tax evasion, which carry a maximum of 5 years in prison. The other five counts are for willfully failing to file a tax return. They each have a maximum penalty of a year in prison.

The world of ICOs

The SEC’s charges, on the other hand, are not so dry. First, they clock in at a lengthy 55 pages, which details fraudulent activity about McAfee’s promotions of several ICOs in 2017 and 2018. The report details how he received more than $11.6 million worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum tokens to promote seven ICOs.

McAfee received an additional $11.5 million worth of promoted tokens. However, the offerings are not named in the suit.

The entrepreneur has a murky history worth an entire TV series, making for a more exciting read. However, it seems that the current charges are not related to his wild lifestyle from a few years back.