John McAfee claimed in an extradition hearing in Spain that the tax evasion charges leveled against him are politically motivated. The software antivirus pioneer told his one million Twitter followers that all his cryptocurrency fortune is gone with the wind. However, he acknowledges that not everyone will believe that he is telling the truth.
The McAfee antivirus founder was imprisoned in October 2021 where he has remained ever since. At the time, he was arrested for tax evasion. However, his imprisonment has not stopped him from posting on Twitter often on a near-daily basis.
The 76-year-old tweeted earlier on June 17:
“I have nothing. Yet, I regret nothing. The US believes I have hidden crypto. I wish I did but it has dissolved through the many hands of Team McAfee (your belief is not required), and my remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association.”
The United States government is now seeking McAfee’s extradition, with a ruling expected to come from the Spanish courts in the coming weeks.
Currently, McAfee has a litany of charges that are aimed against him, including the alleged operation of at least two “pump and dump” related crypto scams that made investors lose over $13 million.
In case he is extradited, McAfee will now face court charges for evading tax payments between 2014 and 2018 after he decided not to report income from many revenue streams like crypto gains, consultancy work, paid cryptocurrency promotions, and selling the rights to his life-story documentary.
I can see a small piece of sky above the tall concrete walls of the prison yard. The walls seem to frame, in contrast, the deep blue sky and the fluffy clouds drifting through it.
It turns this tiny sky window into a jewel of extraordinary beauty.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) May 25, 2021
His life behind bars seems to be one of contemplation and regrets, as he mostly tweets messages with sorrowful tones that switch to acceptance for his current condition and circumstances, and he also mixes it all up with sparks of aggression towards the United States governing bodies.
He notes in a June 9 tweet that:
“After uncountable lawsuits and the reach of the FED’s I now have nothing. But inside these prison bars, I have never felt freer. The things you believe you own, in reality, own you.”
I have a million followers but I'd be surprised if even 1% bother to read my tweets.
Ramblings of an old man lost in a near infinite Twitter verse – like tears in rain.
As you may guess I'm having a down day.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 8, 2021
That is an outright contrast to McAfee’s earlier years when his net worth reached $100 million from his highly successful anti-virus software firm. He used to own a mansion that was worth over $5 million in Colorado Springs and lived on a luxury yacht out in Dominican Republic waters. He dubbed the yacht a “freedom boat.”
Based on the June 2021 indictment written by the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Tennessee prosecutors, McAfee faces at least five years for each count of tax evasion coupled with a one-year minimum on every count of willful failure to file his tax returns.
Given his old age, the multiple entrepreneur might spend the rest of his life behind bars if he is found guilty of all these crimes.
Earlier this week, McAfee spoke at Spanish High Courts in the first hearing of his extradition trial and claimed that charges from the United States governing bodies are mainly politically motivated. He had previously tried to run as a Libertarian Party candidate in the U.S. presidential elections. According to him, he attracted the IRS’s attention back in 2018 when:
“I also announced I would target the IRS and its corruption, and two months later the IRS filed charged against me.”
There is much sorrow in prison, disguised as hostility.
The sorrow is plainly visible even in the most angry faces.
I'm old and content with food and a bed but for the young prison is a horror – a reflection of the minds of those who conceived them.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 10, 2021
Carlos Bautista, the Spanish prosecutor handling the McAfee case rejected that claim and described him as a “tax rebel, nothing else. A millionaire who doesn’t want to pay taxes.”
