CFTC Fines McAfee’s Former Bodyguard Bringing An End To All Of His Pump And Dump Schemes
- CFTC has ended the case with the former bodyguard and assistant of John McAfee
- The disgorgement against Jimmy Gale Watson amounts to $146,000
After losing a case to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the former bodyguard and assistant of John McAfee has also lost to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a US agency that regulates the country’s derivatives markets.
According to the announcement from the CFTC on Monday, the settlement and injunction against Jimmy Gale Watson, a former Navy Seal, and John McAfee’s bodyguard from 2017 before becoming the executive adviser of the former cybersecurity mogul’s cryptocurrency team, has been confirmed.
According to the CFTC, Watson was involved with McAfee in promoting several dubious crypto projects via social media acoounts and thereby initiated pump and dump schemes. The boss and assistant would invest in a particular project before hyping them over social media, and dump them when others would start investing in such projects.
The final disgorgement against Watson was around $146,000 and the order “prohibits Watson from engaging in further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations as charged, and it imposes registration and trading bans.”
“The CFTC will continue actively to use its enforcement authority in the digital asset space to combat fraud and manipulation,”
said CFTC Acting Director of Enforcement Gretchen Lowe.
Watson was involved in a similar case with the SEC wherein the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York gave the final consent judgment against McAfee’s partner in crime. Watson is required to pay a whopping $316,408 to the US Treasury in disgorgement although he won’t have to pay a civil fine.
He is also barred from issuing, buying, offering or selling any digital assets in any professional capacity but can invest in them for personal finances.
Interestingly, McAfee is suspected to have netted nearly $23 million from such schemes that he orchestrated with Watson who is still facing criminal charges from the Justice Department (DoJ).
Crypto pump and dump schemes have caused significant losses to crypto investors. Big names have been involved with such schemes including likes of actor, writer, and comedian Steve Harvey and Miss Universe 2020 Andrea Meza who were responsible for promoting the Miss Universe NFT rug pull.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
