The founder of antivirus John McAfee was found dead in his jail cell near Barcelona in an Apparent Suicide. Soon after country National court approved his extradition to the United States to face criminal tax evasion charges.
Security personnel tried to revive him, but the Jail medical team declared him dead. A Statement from the Regional Catalan Government said,” A Judicial delegation has arrived to investigate the causes of death,”. It also added, “Everything points to death by suicide.”
McAfee was arrested in October at EI Prat airport in Barcelona. The court also rejected his last request from freedom, considering that the “risk of flight remain evident” and that it does not have “Any appreciable sign of rootedness.”
Spain’s national court ruled in favour of extraditing McAfee argued in a hearing earlier this month. The charges against him by prosecutors in Tennessee were politically motivated.
The arrest followed charges the same month in Tennessee for evading taxes after failing to report income from promoting cryptocurrencies while he worked there. The criminal charges carried a prison sentence of up to 30 years.
The national court had agreed to extradition to McAfee to the United States for alleged tax evasion by hiding allegedly high income between 2016-2018.
Nishay Sanan, the Chicago-based attorney, defending him on those cases, said by phone that McAfee “will always be remembered as a fighter.”
“He tried to love this country but the U.S Government made his existence impossible,” Sanan said. “They tried to erase him, but they failed.”
About John McAfee
Born in England’s Gloucestershire in 1945 as John David McAfee. He was one of the first programmers to design antivirus and developing computer virus scanners. He was 75 years old and also working for the aerospace company Lockheed. In 1989 he founded the antivirus company McAfee associate. sold the rights to his life story for a documentary.
In one of his last known media interviews, with British newspaper The Independent last November, McAfee said his prison experience in Spain was a “fascinating adventure” and he planned never to return to the U.S.
