John McAfee, who made a fortune with his eponymous anti-virus software in the 1980s, has been arrested at Barcelona airport because he is wanted in the United States for alleged tax evasion.
According to reports, 75-year-old McAfee was detained on Saturday as he was about to board a flight to Istanbul. He is being held at a jail near Barcelona pending extradition to the US. The US officials had issued an arrest warrant through Interpol
The arrest comes after US prosecutors released an indictment against McAfee for allegedly failing to report income made from promoting crypto-currencies, carrying out speaking engagements, as well as selling the rights to his life story for a TV documentary.
The indictment claimed McAfee failed to file tax returns from 2014 to 2018, despite receiving ‘considerable income’ from a number of sources.
The US federal prosecutors had unsealed the indictment, originally filed in June, against McAfee only on Monday. He is also accused of evading the US tax office by concealing assets, including property, a yacht and car, by putting them in the name of others.
McAfee faces five counts of tax evasion, each carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison, as well as five counts of ‘wilful failure to file a tax return’, each carrying a maximum penalty of one year in prison.
The indictment for tax evasion comes a day after the US Securities and Exchange Commission also revealed that it had brought civil charges against McAfee, alleging he made over $23 million in undisclosed compensation from false and misleading cryptocurrency recommendations.