In total, McAfee will stand trial in connection with ten charges. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) intends to sue him separately, claiming that he earned at least $ 23 million from various promotions related to cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency transactions, violating various laws and regulations.

According to the indictment of the Justice Department, McAfee did not pay taxes on the funds he earned between 2014 and 2018. The government also claims that McAfee has long avoided meeting with tax inspectors and tried to hide his assets, including real estate and a yacht (usually by transferring ownership to other people).

According to prosecutors, McAfee has made tens of millions of dollars from his numerous Twitter followers advertising various cryptocurrencies, and has also not paid any taxes on this. It is also noted that in recent years, McAfee regularly received royalties for various performances and consultations, and also earned on transition of rights to film the story of his life.

“John McAfee made millions from promoting cryptocurrencies, consulting work, speaking and selling the rights to his story for a documentary. From 2014 to 2018, McAfee did not file tax returns, despite receiving significant income from these sources”, — reads a statement from law enforcement officers.

As a result, if found guilty, McAfee could face up to five years in prison for tax avoidance, as well as up to one year in prison on each of five charges of willful tax evasion.

In turn, representatives of the Securities and Exchange Commission write that McAfee earned by telling his subscribers about various cryptocurrencies.

“At the same time, the former head of McAfee did not tell people that he was paid to advertise certain altcoins, and in some cases he even had a stake in the companies in which he called for investments. For example, in one case, McAfee advertised an unnamed ICO for users and at the same time tried to sell his stake invested in this company”, – say the court documents.

In total, advertising for seven ICOs on Twitter brought John McAfee about $23 million, and experts emphasize that in all cases, “McAfee’s recommendations were false and misleading.”

The SEC does not face a jail sentence, but if McAfee is found guilty, he will have to deal with multimillion-dollar fines and penalties.

Jimmy Watson, who has been responsible for McAfee’s personal security in recent years, also appears in court documents. According to authorities, he often helped negotiate on behalf of McAfee and acquainted more than $300,000 in the process.

And for example, another IT legend Steve Wozniak sues YouTube over cryptocurrency scammers.

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The fact is that scammers are very fond of using names of famous people in their scams. For example, last month, attackers hijacked three fairly popular YouTube channels and gave them new names associated with SpaceX. Then the scammers launched fake “live broadcasts” with Elon Musk, during which they carried out fictitious distribution of bitcoins.

Thus, the cybercriminals lured more than $150,000 in cryptocurrency from users in just two days.

By the way, I talked that on hacker forums noticed growing demand for credentials from YouTube channels.

Similarly, attackers often exploit names of other famous personalities, including Stephen Wozniak, Bill Gates, and so on. By showing videos in which celebrities discuss cryptocurrencies and blockchain-related topics, the scammers ask viewers to send them a small amount of cryptocurrency, promising to double and return any amount received.

“YouTube has all the necessary tools to detect and suppress such undesirable actions, but the company does not even take obvious steps for this (for example, it does not filter videos that include phrases such as “bitcoins giveaway” in their titles)”, – claim the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit also mentions Twitter, as scammers also regularly used the platform for similar purposes. However, in recent years, Twitter has been actively fighting such a scam, and the plaintiffs believe that the “repression” on Twitter pushed the scammers to go to YouTube, where they have been at ease for many years.

The plaintiffs also argue that YouTube is not just passively allows posting of such videos. YouTube’s recommendation algorithms have promoted these videos to crypto enthusiasts, and ads have been embedded in the videos, meaning the platform has been making direct profits from the fraudulent videos.

ArsTechnica journalists point out that in this case, YouTube protects section 230 of the Communication Decency Act. Essentially, the law grants online platforms immunity when it comes to inappropriate user content.

“Sites has immunity even if they do little to combat unwanted user content”, – tell ArsTechnica journalists.

The publication reminds that courts usually rely on section 230, even in cases where users distribute child pornography. It is unlikely that this time the court will look at the problem differently, although the name of Steven Wozniak may play iits role, and perhaps YouTube will take the problem of cryptocurrency scam more seriously.

The post Steve Wozniak Sues YouTube Over Cryptocurrency Scammers appeared first on Gridinsoft Blog.