This Tuesday, it became known about the arrest of billionaire John McAfee by the authorities of Spain. According to the police, the reason for the arrest was an international arrest warrant for various crimes, including fraud.
Interpol’s arrest warrant against the extravagant businessman was released by the United States authorities. In that nation, McAfee allegedly would have evaded taxes, which is considered a crime under national and international laws.
It should be noted that tax evasion is not uncommon in the United States. In fact, it was recently known that the current president of that nation, Donald Trump, also has a history in that field. Are there other reasons for Interpol to seek out McAfee?
Some reasons for McAfee’s arrest in Spain
For the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) itself to release an Interpol red alert against a person, a criminal record is needed. Some of them could be serial murder or terrorism. This red alert translates to high priority.
However, according to local media, the crimes charged for McAfee’s arrest are tax evasion and the sale of cryptocurrencies “without realizing it”. At the end of July, the FBI determined that the 75-year-old fugitive could be in Spain and move through the Schengen bloc countries.
This last association is made up of 23 countries of the European Union and others of the Nordic area. Among them, the free movement of people is allowed as long as they have the citizenship of one of these nations.
Although everything indicated that the businessman had been spending some seasons in Tarragona, his location was complex. The searches of hotels in the area, explains El País, did not give any results and it was suspected that the person being pursued had been in Germany.
Another crime of the businessman
Another of the “serious crimes”, Worthy of a red alert from Interpol, is the sale of rights for the publication of his autobiography. Between 2014 and 2018, the income from the sales of its publication did not pay taxes and, “With part of that income, MacAfee bought several assets, including a yacht”, Explains the aforementioned media.
Since June the accusation against the millionaire had been secretly working. In this sense, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) determined that the victim promoted the purchase of cryptocurrencies on Twitter “without realizing that he was being paid for it”, Which was reason enough to order McAfee’s arrest.
All this investigation gave its results this Tuesday, when the Spanish police captured him at the El Prat airport in Barcelona. At the time of arrest, the fugitive was on a flight to Turkey. For now, he remains in preventive prison pending the completion of extradition procedures.
Other more serious facts for which he is not accused
If something is certain about this businessman, it is that he is extremely controversial and problematic. Just over 10 years ago, he sold his information security company to Intel for more than $ 7.6 billion.
After the sale of his antivirus company (with the same name as his), McAfee’s legal problems began. In 2012 he fled from the authorities of Belize, the Central American country where he resided, after being a suspect in the death of a neighbor.
Soon after, he was captured in Guatemala and deported to the United States, where he received no punishment for this alleged crime committed in Belize. Later, the businessman announced that he had fled the United States due to charges from the treasury.
At that time, from Cuba he boasted of not having paid taxes in eight years. The reasons for not doing so, he explained at the time, is that the taxes were “illegal and unconstitutional”And, therefore, I would never pay them again. It did not take long for him to be arrested again in the Dominican Republic for carrying weapons on his yacht.
A fight for the freedom of all
Today, the businessman’s wife, Janice McAfee, published a statement on her Twitter account in which she offers some details about the arrest. She explained that she has kept in contact with her husband through the team of lawyers “who fight tirelessly on your behalf”.
Likewise, it affirms that the employer is in good spirits and expresses its deepest gratitude to all for the support during this test. Among other emotional words, he asserts that leaving the United States allowed them to know that there are still people around the world who believe in freedom.
Janice says that regardless of what he did or did not do, “John has spent most of his retirement fighting for freedom, not just his, but everyone’s, both in the United States and around the world ”.
It is a battle, he concludes, which is summarized in the freedom of all to make our own decisions, “a battle against injustice”.
It should be noted that, in social networks, although with some conflicting positions, support for the employer has been remarkable. Beyond his problematic personality, they explain that McAfee in some way represents the right to decide without being chained to centralized entities.
The latest entrepreneurial endeavors
Despite being in retirement, the billionaire was not entirely inactive. Recently, in CriptoTendencia, details were offered about his latest project related to cryptocurrencies, the Blockchain network and even the design of high-security telephone chips.
It is the ghost coin or Ghost, which would have secret qualities and would be associated with an eSIM. In this way, with traffic through multiple servers, operations with the invisible cryptocurrency would be “untraceable”. Likewise, all information transmitted from one phone to another is encrypted.
At the time, McAfee explained that his project “encompasses a range of tools for people to protect their rights and regain their privacy”.
Following the arrest of McAfee, the future of this project is uncertain, which is still under development. Consequently, according to the Twitter account, on October 15, the Exchange will be launched.
According to the developers of Ghost, the United States government has acted late and the project “is running and unstoppable”.
Data to take into consideration
- The arrest of millionaire John McAfee took place at Barcelona’s El Prat airport, the Spanish authorities announced.
- The crimes charged to the 75-year-old businessman are tax evasion and the sale of cryptocurrencies are to inform.
- McAfee’s latest project, Ghost, is a secret, decentralized system that has cryptocurrency, exchange, and phone service.
- The developers of the project claim that McAfee’s arrest has come “too late”, Since it is in a phase in which the government will be unable to destroy it.
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