John McAfee in Miami, December 12, 2012 -

Alan Diaz / AP / SIPA

New legal case for the sulphurous American businessman.

John McAfee, the creator of the famous antivirus bearing his name, was indicted on Friday by the American justice system for having promoted several operations related to cryptocurrencies to his fans on Twitter without telling them that he was probably going to withdraw tidy sums from them.

He and his advisor Jimmy Watson are accused of having used his account on the social network, with a little over a million subscribers, to publish messages extolling various cryptocurrencies while "concealing their real personal motivations, ”commented New York Attorney General Audrey Strauss.

“More than 13 million dollars” unduly collected between 2017 and 2018

The two accused and their collaborators would have in total unduly collected "more than 13 million dollars" between 2017 and 2018, she assured.

They are being prosecuted on a total of seven counts, including “conspiracy to commit stock market fraud” and “money laundering”.

Authorities overseeing the stock markets, the SEC, and commodities markets, the CFTC, have also filed civil lawsuits against the two men.

McAfee and people around him are accused of having bought large amounts of virtual currencies before Mr. McAfee recommended them on his Twitter account without specifying that he had it.

Prices temporarily jumped, allowing McAfee and its partners to rake in a capital gain of $ 2 million when they sold them.

Several personalities already prosecuted for similar facts

The accused are also accused of having used Mr. McAfee's Twitter account to promote several cryptocurrency fundraisers (ICOs) without specifying that the businessman was paid, more than $ 11 million in total, for advertise it.

Mr. McAfee is not the first celebrity to be prosecuted by American authorities for similar facts: boxer Floyd Mayweather and rap star DJ Khaled, in late 2018, actor Steven Seagal, in early 2020, and rapper TI in September 2020, were accused of illegally promoting ICOs on their social networks.

John McAfee, 75, is currently jailed in Spain pending his extradition to the United States in a separate tax evasion case.

After making his fortune with his antivirus in the 1980s, he became a cryptocurrency guru.

He also made headlines in 2012 when his neighbor in Belize was mysteriously murdered, a crime unsolved to date.

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