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John McAfee Arrested: Tax Evasion Legal Case Details

Security software entrepreneur John McAfee has been arrested in Spain, and may be extradited to the United States  to face fraud and tax evasion charges, according to multiple media reports.

John McAfee founded the security software company that carriers his name in 1987, though he resigned from the company in 1994. Fast forward to 2020, and McAfee now faces tax evasion and civil charges in the United States.

The legal case reinforces an SEO (search engine optimization) headache for the McAfee cybersecurity software company -- which is seeking to launch an IPO (initial public offering). Indeed, each time John McAfee earns headlines for alleged crimes, his name shoots to the top of "McAfee" related search results on the Internet -- a potential blemish for the software company, even though the entrepreneur exited that business more than 25 years ago.

John McAfee Arrest: Legal Case Timeline

Below is a timeline of legal developments and claims involving McAfee. Online court records do not show whether McAfee has a lawyer to speak on his behalf about the charges, AP reports. ChannelE2E will update the timeline when new developments emerge.

Tuesday, October 6, 2020: McAfee is in Jail near Barcelona, Spain, pending extradition procedures. Source: Reuters.

Monday, October 5, 2020: U.S. prosecutors unsealed a June 2020 indictment alleging McAfee evaded taxes and willfully failed to file returns from 2014 to 2018. Source: AP.

Monday, October 5, 2020: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SE) charged McAfee for promoting investments in initial coin offerings (ICOs) to his Twitter followers without disclosing that he was paid to do so. McAfee’s bodyguard, Jimmy Watson, Jr., was also charged for his role in the alleged scheme. Source: SEC.

July 2019: In an unrelated case, McAfee was released from detention in the Dominican Republic after he and five others were suspected of traveling on a yacht carrying high-caliber weapons, ammunition and military-style gear, officials in the Caribbean Island said at the time. Source: AP.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.