In brief
- Anti-virus software mogul John McAfee was arrested in Spain last year on tax evasion charges.
- The Spanish High Court has now authorized his extradition to the U.S.
- McAfee has always denied the accusations.
Spain’s High Court has approved the extradition of badboy tech entrepreneur John McAfee to the U.S. where he will face tax evasion charges, according to reports.
McAfee, who was arrested in Spain last year, can still appeal against the extradition, local media and agencies reported Wednesday.
The alleged tax evasion charges say that the 75-year-old entrepreneur made over $23 million by promoting seven initial coin offerings (ICOs)—described as “pump-and-dump” schemes by U.S. authorities.
Decrypt initially reported the details of McAfee’s crypto promotion business in April 2019. McAfee sought up to 20% of the tokens issued in a variety of ICOs, in exchange for his public endorsement, which would've made him millions of dollars.
U.S. authorities are now alleging that McAfee failed to pay taxes from 2014 to 2018 and that he routed income though cryptocurrency accounts in another person's name.
The founder of popular anti-virus software was also hit with new charges related to fraud and money laundering in March.
He has always denied the accusations and claimed they are politically motivated. McAfee claims that the charges are related to his failed bid to run as a Liberatarian Party candidate in the 2020 U.S. presidential election—but hasn’t yet provided any proof of this.
The prosecutor in the case, Carlos Bautista, slammed McAfee’s claims of a political attack and said he was simply avoiding taxes, according to reports.
McAfee has been a controversial figure in the tech world for some time. He has openly criticized U.S. authorities' tax-collecting methods and in 2018 said he would “rip the SEC a new asshole.”