John McAfee DEAD in Spanish Prison after Court Approves Extradition to US
Software guru John McAfee has been found dead in his prison cell in Barcelona just hours after a Spanish court approved his extradition to the US on tax evasion charges.
McAfee, 75, was found in his cell at the Sant Esteve Sesrovires jail on Wednesday evening, Spanish media reported, citing an official statement from the Ministry of Justice. Guards and prison medical staff intervened and attempted resuscitation, but to no avail, the ministry said.
Investigators have been dispatched to the jail to probe the cause of death, but “everything indicates it could be a suicide,” the ministry added.
Earlier Wednesday, a Spanish court ruled to allow his extradition to the US on charges of evading taxes between 2014 and 2018, which could have landed him in prison for up to 30 years. US authorities also had civil charges pending against McAfee for an estimated $13 million in profits from cryptocurrency schemes.
McAfee was arrested in Spain in October 2020 and held in jail as a “flight risk” pending his extradition hearing.
In a social media post on June 16, 2021, which turned out to be one of his last, he revealed that the millions in cryptocurrency have been “dissolved” by his associates, who he said had abandoned him in fear.
The US believes I have hidden crypto. I wish I did but it has dissolved through the many hands of Team McAfee (your belief is not required), and my remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association.
I have nothing.
Yet, I regret nothing.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 16, 2021
“I have nothing. Yet, I regret nothing,” he wrote.
Best known for his eponymous antivirus software, McAfee actually resigned from that company in 1994 and pursued other ventures, but took a massive hit to his fortune during the 2008 financial crisis. He lived in Belize for a period, but left in 2013 after being accused – falsely, he said – of having a neighbor killed.
In a democracy, power is given not taken.
But it is still power.
Love, compassion, caring have no use for it. But it is fuel for greed, hostility, jealousy…
All power corrupts.
Take care which powers you allow a democracy to wield.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 18, 2021
McAfee also made two bids for the US presidency, in 2016 and 2020. Both times, he lost in the Libertarian Party primaries.
Getting subtle messages from U.S. officials saying, in effect: "We're coming for you McAfee! We're going to kill yourself". I got a tattoo today just in case. If I suicide myself, I didn't. I was whackd. Check my right arm.$WHACKD available only on https://t.co/HdSEYi9krq🙂 pic.twitter.com/rJ0Vi2Hpjj
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) November 30, 2019