McAfee Cryptocurrency Team Members Indicted for Pump and Dump Schemes

On March 5, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment charging John McAfee, the founder of McAfee antivirus software company, along with the executive advisor of his cryptocurrency team, Jimmy Watson Jr. The pair face charges on seven counts including wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit commodities and securities fraud by touting and scalping. Watson had been arrested in Texas the night before the indictment was announced, and McAfee remains detained in Spain awaiting extradition to the United States on tax fraud charges filed in October 2020.