John McAfee, the famous crypto influencer and creator of the antivirus of the same name, has been in prison in Spain for almost six months now, and since then, all attempts to extradite him or request a house arrest have been rejected.
Despite being in prison, he is somehow allowed to communicate via Twitter, and today, a new post of his appears in which he explains how ridiculous his imprisonment is and that, as a great supporter of cryptocurrencies, the US government has targeted him to attack the entire sector.
The charges against me are absolutely ridiculous. I am being used as a scapegoat for the US to crackdown on crypto. This is an attack on all crypto. This is purely and simply the truth.
These are my lead attorneys in my pursuit for justice. https://t.co/fNrwBfb5kT
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) March 18, 2021
“The charges against me are absolutely ridiculous. I am being used as a scapegoat for the US to crackdown on crypto. This is an attack on all crypto. This is purely and simply the truth”.
So goes the tweet, citing a post by his lawyers at Gordon Law.
According to the document, this would be one of the first allegations of tax evasion concerning cryptocurrencies and certainly the most high-profile. It is precisely because of this that McAfee may have been targeted in order to make US citizens understand that cryptocurrency tax evasion is just as important a crime as that involving fiat currencies and therefore John would be nothing more than a scapegoat.
As a reminder, the reason McAfee is in jail is that the Department of Justice for the Southern District of New York has filed fraud and money laundering charges against him.
John McAfee, illegal detention for the crypto influencer
In essence, although he has said he is innocent of the facts, it almost seems that the crime has been committed, although the punishment is far too severe, especially since house arrest in the case of a senior man for this type of crime would be appropriate.
Among other things, Janice McAfee, the influencer’s wife, has tweeted several times explaining that this detention is debilitating her husband, who has allegedly lost 15 kg and has problems that the doctors in the Spanish prison are unable to treat adequately.