John McAfee the founder of McAfee antivirus found dead in Spain; Lawyer suggests suicide
Image Source: Reuters
Antivirus software founder John McAfee was found dead in his jail cell in Spain on Wednesday, a prison official told “shortly after a court approved his extradition to the United States where he was wanted for tax evasion.”
The 75-year-old pioneer 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. She gave no further details in brief.
McAfee has been in jail in Spain, he was arrested at Barcelona airport in October 2020, just as he was about to board a flight to Istanbul.
He is alleged to have deliberately failed to file the income tax returns between 2014 and 2018 (continuously for 4 years), despite earning millions from consulting work, cryptocurrencies and selling the rights to his life story.
If he found convicted, he could have faced up to 30 years in prison.
Spain’s National Court earlier on Wednesday said it had approved his extradition to the US.
The decision could still have been appealed and the extradition would also have needed approval from the Spanish cabinet.
According to the US extradition request filed in November and quoted in the ruling, John McAfee earned more than 10 million euros ($12 million) in the four years in question, but never filed a tax return between 2014-18.
“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 crypto-currency guru, claiming to make $2,000 a day. Currently, before he died, he has more than 1 Million or 10 Lakh Followers on Twitter.
