Antivirus software pioneer John McAfee has been charged with evading taxes after failing to report income made from promoting cryptocurrencies while he did consulting work, prosecutors in Tennessee in the US said.
An indictment charging McAfee with tax evasion also alleges he made “considerable income” from speaking engagements and the sale the rights to his life story for a documentary. Online court records in Memphis do not show whether McAfee has a lawyer to speak on his behalf about the charges.
McAfee developed early Internet security software. The indictment said McAfee failed to file tax returns from 2014 to 2018, despite receiving income from several sources.
It does not allege that McAfee received any income or had any connection with the antivirus software company bearing his name during those years, prosecutors said. McAfee evaded taxes by directing his income to be paid into bank accounts and cryptocurrency exchange accounts in the names of others, the indictment said.
McAfee hid assets from the Internal Revenue Service, including real estate property, a vehicle and a yacht, in the names of others, prosecutors added. If convicted of all charges, he could face up to 30 years in prison.
The indictment, from June, was unsealed on Monday after his arrest in Spain where he awaits extradition to the US, the US attorney’s office said.
