John McAfee, the tech pioneer who made one of the world’s first commercial antivirus programs, was arrested on Tuesday, October 6, over charges of tax evasion and fraud in the US, TechCrunch reported.

McAfee was arrested in Spain, and is currently facing extradition to the US.

McAfee is also facing 5 counts of tax evasion charges levied by the US Department of Justice specifically against him, with no charges against the “anti-virus company bearing his name.”

The US Securities and Exchange Commission accused McAfee of being paid millions of dollars in cryptocurrency assets for promoting initial coin offerings sales without disclosing that he was being paid to promote the ICO.

TechCrunch said that McAfee received more than $11.6 million worth of bitcoin and ethereum for promoting 7 ICOs, which were not named in the lawsuit. He also allegedly received another $11.5 million worth of the cryptocurrencies he promoted.

ICOs are offerings for new cryptocurrencies, which rose after the boom of the bitcoin cryptocurrency in 2017, wherein 1 bitcoin traded for nearly $20,000 during its peak.

Celebrities such as Steven Seagal, Floyd Mayweather Jr, and DJ Khaled were known to have promoted ICOs too, but interest in the digital money has leveled as none could reach the level that bitcoin, currently trading at about $10,000 to 1 bitcoin, achieved. Scams and fraudulent offerings were rampant in the cryptocurrency field during the peak of bitcoin’s popularity.

Prior to McAfee, American rapper TI was also hit with charges of cryptocurrency fraud. He settled his case for $75,000 in September 2020.

In the Philippines, the most high-profile name to have dabbled in cryptocurrency is boxing champ Manny Pacquiao, who announced his “PAC” tokens in October 2018, before launching it in September 2019. – Rappler.com