Antivirus software pioneer John McAfee on Wednesday was found dead in his jail cell in Spain, officials said, shortly after a court approved his extradition to the US, where he was wanted for tax evasion.
The 75-year-old was found dead in his cell in the Brians 2 penitentiary near Barcelona “apparently from suicide,” a spokeswoman for the prison system in the northeastern Catalonia region said.
A spokeswoman for the Catalan branch of the legal body which oversees Spain’s courts, the General Council of the Judiciary, also confirmed that McAfee had been found dead in his cell at about 7pm of an apparent suicide.
Photo: Reuters
McAfee has been in jail in Spain since he was arrested at Barcelona airport in October last year, just as he was about to board a flight to Istanbul. He is alleged to have deliberately failed to file tax returns from 2014 to 2018, despite earning millions from consulting work, cryptocurrencies and selling the rights to his life story.
If convicted, he could have faced up to 30 years in prison.
“Guards and medical staff intervened immediately to perform resuscitation measures, but doctors eventually certified his death,” the statement added.
The Spanish National Court earlier on Wednesday said it had approved McAfee’s extradition to the US. The decision could still have been appealed and the extradition needed approval from the Spanish Cabinet.
According to the US extradition request filed in November last year, and quoted in the ruling, McAfee earned more than 10 million euros (US$11.94 million at the current exchange rate) from 2014 to 2018, but never filed a tax return.
“To conceal his income and assets from the Internal Revenue Service ... the defendant ordered part of his income to be paid to straw men and placed property in their names,” it said.
Since making a fortune in the 1980s with the antivirus software that still bears his name, McAfee had become a self-styled cryptocurrency guru, claiming to make US$2,000 a day.
McAfee in 1987 founded the computer security software company and ran it for seven years before resigning.
His life after than became a headline-grabbing mix of controversies involving drugs, weapons and even murder.
McAfee had more than 1 million followers on Twitter, where he described himself as a “lover of women, adventure and mystery.”
On Wednesday last week, he wrote on Twitter that the US authorities believed he had “hidden crypto.”
“I wish I did,” he added. “My remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association. I have nothing. Yet, I regret nothing.”
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