John McAfee, the name behind one of the most popular antivirus software companies in the world (even though the concept of antivirus software itself seems outdated now), and self appointed cryptocurrency guru, was found dead in his jail cell in Spain, having hanged himself to escape jail time in US. Sad ending for an otherwise carefree man.
At 75 years old, he 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.
AP reports that a security guard tried to revive him, but failed.
US had been on McAfee’s tail for quite some time after he committed tax evasion and did not pay any tax on his earnings from 2014 to 2018, despite earning millions. To escape paying back the government, US authorities argue that McAfee hired a bunch of strawmen , placing properties in their name.
However, this was soon uncovered by the Internal Revenue System (IRS), which then tried to bring McAfee to justice. He was en-route to Istanbul, just about to board his flight when authorities in Spain caught him. This was back in October 2020, and since then, he has been in jail in the country.
Just a few hours ago, a court approved his extradition to the United States, something that McAfee vehemently protested. He believed that his extradition was politically motivated, and once in the US, he would spend the rest of his life in jail. This is not entirely untrue, for had he been convicted, he could have faced 30 years in prison.
However, it seems like the prospect was too daunting for the software maker, since he decided to end his own life before his extradition could be completed.
McAfee was posting on his social media up until a few hours before this news broke out, claiming that he had no assets.
