BARCELONA, June 23 (Reuters) – Antivirus creator John McAfee, 75, was found dead in his prison cell in Barcelona after the Spanish high court had authorised his extradition to the U.S., the Catalan justice department said, confirming an earlier report from El Mundo newspaper.
Everything points it could be a death by suicide, the department said in a statement.
The high court had agreed to extradite him back to the U.S. where he faces tax evasion charges.
According to all major news websites the past 60 minutes it has been announced that John McAfee has passed away on 23/06/2021. John McAfee is claimed to be found death in the cell while medics were still trying to rescue him. It is very assumable that the legend John McAfee has indeed died knowing that the news has spread worldwide, among all major news channels instantly.
The location that John McAfee was at when he passed away was in Sant Esteve Sesrovires. The cause of death that has been reported is that John McAfee committed suicide by hanging.
His death came after a ruling from a three-judge panel at Spain’s National Court in Madrid this week that McAfee could be extradited to the United States to face charges there. That decision could still have been appealed to a larger panel of judges at the same court, according to court documents. McAfee was arrested in Spain in October after being indicted in the United States for tax evasion months earlier.
He allegedly failed to file taxes for four years despite earning millions in income between 2014 and 2018 from promoting cryptocurrencies, consulting work, speaking engagements and selling the rights to his life story for a documentary, according to court documents. The amount he owed was not specified in the indictment. The Spanish judges approved his extradition to face charges for 2016, 2017 and 2018 tax years.
In a virtual hearing in Spanish court earlier this month, McAfee argued that the US tax evasion charges against him were politically motivated, the Associated Press reported.
The death was first reported by El Pais and later by Reuters and the New York Times, both of which cited attorneys representing McAfee. Multiple news agencies also reported McAfee’s death.
According to El Pais, Reuters, and the AP, prison personnel found McAfee dead in his cell, by two accounts after he hanged himself. Personnel provided emergency medical services but were unable to save his life.
The reports came hours after revelations surfaced that McAfee suffered a crushing defeat in his bid to avoid extradition to the US to face charges that that could carry decades in prison. Federal prosecutors filed one indictment in March and another in October. The first alleged a cryptocurrency pump-and-dump scheme and the latter tax evasion on millions of dollars in income.
Long, strange trip
In 1987 McAfee founded McAfee Associates, a software company that produced one of the first commercial antivirus products. The entrepreneur ran the company until 1994, when he resigned. By the time McAfee as a company was purchased by Intel for what at the time was the astounding price of $7.78 billion, McAfee the man had already sold his entire stake in the company.
“The social, economic or any other relevance the defence claims the appellant possesses does not grant him any immunity,” the ruling stated.
“When I heard of John’s impending extradition, my team was fully prepared to fight for his innocence before the United States courts,” said Andrew B. Gordon, one of Mr McAfee’s lawyers. “We knew he would appreciate the opportunity to share his story and put the false charges against him to rest. Only hours later, we were shocked to learn of his untimely death.”
Andrew B. Gordon,
The justice department for the Catalan region of Spain said that, pending an investigation, it was treating his death as a probable suicide. It said in a statement that Mr McAfee had been found in his cell and died despite efforts by security guards and prison health care officials to revive him.
