John McAfee, founder of the McAfree Antivirus and the computer pioneer from UK took his own life in Barcelona at a prison. His extradition to the United States was approved by the Spanish High Court.
John McAfee, the 75-year-old founder of McAfee Associates, an antivirus software company. He was discovered dead in his cell in a jail near Barcelona.
The Catalan Department of Justice reported that prison surveillance agents and medical personnel tried to resuscitate him but were unable to save his life.
The authorities in Spain believe the death is a cause of suicide. Department stated, “Judicial personnel have been dispatched to the prison to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death.”
Spain’s Audiencia Nacional court had agreed to his extradition for alleged tax evasion just hours before the news broke.
Last October, as he prepared to board a trip to Turkey with a British passport, McAfee was held at Barcelona’s El Prat airport on an international arrest warrant filed by American police.
MaAcfee has been detained at Brians 2 Prison in Sant Esteve Sesrovires.
His imprisonment was imposed by National Court Judge José de la Mata. He is extradition to the United States was already planned, according to El Pais.
McAfee was charged with tax evasion in the US state of Tennessee for allegedly neglecting to register money earned from marketing cryptocurrency while working as a consultant.
The claims of tax avoidance also included earnings from speaking engagements and the sale of the rights to his life story to a documentary.
According to a judgement issued by a Spanish court on Wednesday, the charges cover the three fiscal years from 2016 to 2018.
“The court agrees to grant John David McAfee’s extradition as requested by the American judicial authorities for the offenses alluded to in the tax offence charges for the years 2016 to 2018,” the ruling read.
McAfee’s lawyer, Javier Villalba, said McAfee. He had been in prison for nine months. He still had options to appeal his conviction, but he couldn’t bear any more time behind bars.
Villalba stated, “This is the product of a brutal system that has no cause to hold this man in prison for so long.”
During an extradition hearing held via videolink earlier this month. The antivirus founder said the accusations against him were politically motivated.
He linked the charges filed by the Internal Revenue Service to his failed bid to run as a Libertarian Party candidate in the 2020 US presidential election.
McAfee was simply a tax evader, according to Spanish prosecutor Carlos Bautista. He denied the accusation of political motivation, claiming that the Libertarian Party rarely receives more than 1% of votes
In October, US federal authorities unveiled an indictment against McAfee. It was on accusations of tax evasion and willful failure to file returns.
The announcement came after the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges against McAfee, alleging that he earned over $23.1 million (£16.6 million) in hidden revenue via incorrect and deceptive cryptocurrency recommendations.
The extradition was approved by a Spanish court, but solely to face charges linked to his tax returns for 2016, 2017, and 2018, as requested by the prosecution.
McAfee was born in the United Kingdom in 1945. He came to Virginia with his parents when he was a child.
His father committed suicide when he was 15.
“He’s on my side in every relationship I have; every distrust, he’s the mistrust negotiator.”