The antivirus software creator is currently in a Spanish jail awaiting extradition to the U.S.
John McAfee has denied that he has a stash of "hidden crypto", telling one million Twitter followers from his Spanish jail cell: "I have nothing."
The antivirus software creator is currently awaiting extradition to the U.S. to face tax fraud charges. In a post on Wednesday, McAfee tweeted:
"The U.S. 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. I have nothing. Yet, I regret nothing."
'Politically Motivated'
During a court hearing in Spain's capital Madrid on Tuesday, McAfee claimed that the accusations against him were politically motivated.
He drew a link from the Internal Revenue Service's charges against him to his unsuccessful attempt to run as a presidential candidate in the 2020 U.S. election. McAfee said:
"In late 2018, I announced I would run again and I also announced I would target the IRS and its corruption and two months later the IRS filed charges against me."
McAfee expressed hope that the Spanish judge would "see the injustice of this," and the 76-year-old said he would likely spend the rest of his life behind bars if he was convicted in the U.S.
The Spanish prosecutor at the hearing, Carlos Bautista, rejected McAfee's claims — dismissing him as "a millionaire who doesn't want to pay taxes."
Last year, the IRS accused McAfee of evading taxes and purposefully failing to file tax returns, while the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claimed that he made more than $23 million in undisclosed income through the promotion of cryptocurrencies.
