The creator of McAfee antivirus software, John McAfee, was found dead in his prison cell near Barcelona in a self-evident suicide on Wednesday, this occurred just hours after a Spanish court approved his extradition to the United States to face tax charges guilty by decades in prison, as per authorities.
The unconventional digital currency promoter and tax competitor whose history of judicial disputes spanned from Tennessee to Central America to the Caribbean was found at the Brians 2 penitentiary in northeastern Spain.
Moreover, security staff present at the prison tried to revive him, but the jail’s medical unit finally declared his death, a report from the local Catalan administration said.
“A judicial delegation has arrived to investigate the causes of death,” the statement said, adding that “Everything points to death by suicide.” The report did not identify McAfee by name but said he was a 75-year-old U.S. national expecting extradition to the country.
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Furthermore, Spain’s National Court on Monday ruled in support of extraditing McAfee, 75, who had claimed in a hearing earlier this month that the charges against him by prosecutors in Tennessee were politically motivated and that he would spend the rest of his days in jail if he was passed to the U.S.
The court’s decision was made publicly known on Wednesday and was cleared for appeal, with any last extradition order also requiring to obtain consent from the Spanish Cabinet.
McAfee had been charged the same month in Tennessee with avoiding taxes after neglecting to report earnings from promoting cryptocurrencies while he did consult business, performed speaking commitments, and traded the titles to his life story for a documentary. The criminal charges carried a prison punishment of up to 30 years.
The Chicago-based attorney, Nishay Sanan defending McAfee on those cases, spoke by phone that McAfee “will always be remembered as a fighter.”
Source: BBC
