From security software, anti-surveillance, mobile apps, herbal antibiotics, decentralized tech to presidential campaigns, John McAfee has set his foot in all these arenas. The man lived a crazy and eventful life, Often made it to headlines for his drug, woman, and gun-fueled antics.
McAfee (75), the creator of the McAfee anti-virus software, was found dead in a Spanish prison on Thursday. According to news reports, McAfee’s lawyer, Javier Villalba, stated that his nine months in prison “brought him to despair,” and that he died by hanging.
The incident occurred after Spain’s National Court approved his extradition to the United States, where he faces up to 30 years in prison on tax-related criminal accusations.
John McAfee – A Crypto Showman!
Despite being a major player in tech history, McAfee’s reputation in crypto was tainted by failed initiatives, failed promises, and involvement with alleged scams.
McAfee created Future Tense in 2014 with the goal of creating D-Central, a decentralized networking tool. It was essentially a technique to connect to and support mesh networks so that messages and data could be transmitted anonymously without having to use the internet.
Two years later, he joined MGT Capital Investments as a Chief Executive. He shifted the firm’s focus from sports and gaming sites to bitcoin mining. McAfee joined the enterprise blockchain company Luxcore in 2018 after an amicable parting.
McAfee had built up a reputation as a Cryptocurrency expert, thanks in part to his colorful and at times deranged Twitter account. He famously stated in 2017 that if the value of one bitcoin would not reach $500,000 by July 2020, he would “eat [his] dick on national television.”
He later claimed that he was only trying to onboard new investors into the cryptocurrency.
Later in 2019, McAfee announced the Magic trading platform and the introduction of his own cryptocurrency, Freedom Coin.
Pump & Dump Allegations
The man was also accused of pumping various crypto tokens by mentioning them in his tweets. In Mid- December 2017, he allegedly directed a colleague to buy $5,000 worth of XVG Aka Verge tokens. McAfee described XVG—along with more established tokens like Monero and Zcash—as a coin that “cannot lose” on Twitter the same day.
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Two days later, a Twitter user hinted McAfee had “pumped” XVG, artificially inflating its value in order to sell high. XVR did surge by 500% after the tweet. Prosecutors claim McAfee sold around the peak of the market, making a handsome $30,000 profit.
This wasn’t a one-off thing, followed by this he started a series called “Coin of the Week” series, where he mentioned altcoins of his choice and laud them for their performance
He was later alleged of pumping the altcoin Electronreum(ETN) by tweeting a glowing report on the token. It is also said, he asked an associate to put $100,000 Bitcoin into Electoneum tokens. That day, the price of electroneum increased by 40%. Prosecutors claim McAfee’s associate made a profit.
According to court documents, the same basic scheme was repeated for a year. McAfee would tell his assistant to buy “hundreds of thousands, if not millions” of tokens in the featured altcoin less than ten days before it was featured. BURST, DGB, RDD, HMQ, TRX, FCT, DOGE, XLM, SYS, and RCN would be lauded by McAfee.
They allegedly made $2 million from the pump-and-dump scheme, with hundreds of thousands of dollars coming from Dogecoin alone.
McAfee served as a paid promoter for a variety of firms and projects during the initial coin offering (ICO) frenzy. He allegedly charged over $100,000 for a single promotional tweet to his tens of thousands of followers.
The first was when McAfee told his Twitter followers on December 20, 2017, that Sether, which had recently launched, was “a world-altering coin and a world-changing concept.” McAfee was questioned if he was paid to promote ICOs in this way, and he stated that he was not.
However, it was alleged that he received money for Team McAfee of 30% of the total funds raised in the ICO, along with a “substantial percentage” of the tokens that would be issued to the public.
In addition to these, One more memorable stunt was from 2018 when he had a promotional “Skycoin” tattoo inked to his back.
McAfee was wanted in Tennessee and Manhattan on tax-related offenses and for allegedly failing to disclose crypto revenue. Between 2014 and 2018, he was also charged with not declaring profits from speaking engagements and the sale of his tale for an anticipated documentary. The Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States accused him in March of concealing more than $1 million in cryptocurrency revenue.
“The U.S. believes I have hidden crypto,” McAfee, 75, wrote in a pinned tweet, one of his last, on June 16. “I wish I did but it has dissolved through the many hands of Team McAfee (your belief is not required), and my remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association.
“I have nothing.
“Yet, I regret nothing,”
