The Securities and Exchange Commission has banned Jimmy Gale Watson Jr., an associate of the late John McAfee, from trading or offering digital assets in a professional capacity for his involvement in an ICO scam. He has been fined $316,401.48, prejudgment interest of $59,533.38 for a total penalty of over $375,000.
According to the final judgment, Watson can buy and sell digital assets for his personal accounts. Spanish authorities arrested McAfee in October 2020 after the SEC filed a complaint that he had promoted investments in ICOs with Watson’s help. Watson, as per SEC, assisted the one-time antivirus pioneer by negotiating the promotion deals with the ICO issuers. He also helped McAfee cash out the crypto payments received.
The agency accused Watson of engaging in pump and dump schemes and secretly accumulating a large position in a cryptocurrency. He is alleged of promoting the same on Twitter. The court had filed a Notice of Death concerning McAfee. He had declared in March 2021 that the SEC allegations are overblown. However, McAfee was found dead three months later in a Spanish prison. It was a suicide. He had been on the run for months after being charged with tax evasion and promoting seven ICOs.
The US authorities had described it as pump-and-dump scheme wherein McAfee made over $23 million.
