Cybersecurity pioneer John McAfee has been indicted on fraud and money-laundering charges in connection with what the Justice Department described as a scheme to manipulate cryptocurrency prices.
McAfee and an associate previously were charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with recommending seven different “initial coin offerings,” or ICOs, to his Twitter followers without disclosing that he was paid to promote them.
The criminal charges cover much of the same ground as the SEC case, which also included allegations that McAfee collected $23 million in 2017 and 2018 by selling some of his altcoins while talking them up to other investors.
McAfee also played a role in a securities fraud case involving financier Barry C. Honig and certain associates. The SEC alleged that Honig’s group received more than $20 million in proceeds from pump and dump schemes involving three small public companies
One of them was MGT Capital Investments Inc. (OTC: MGTI). MGT Capital’s shares soared in 2016 after the company announced that it was acquiring two cybersecurity businesses and that McAfee would take over as chief executive.
Honig’s group owned shares of MGT Capital, and stood to receive millions of dollars in additional stock through their financial interest in the cybersecurity companies.
Although MGT Capital went forward with the acquisitions, the terms of those deals were revised, and Honig’s group did not receive the expected financial windfalls.
