It has been reported that John McAfee, the eccentric founder of McAfee anti-virus software, died as a result of hanging himself in a Spanish prison cell.
McAfee was reported dead last week after prison officials found him in his cell in the Catalonia region of Spain as he awaited extradition to the United States on tax evasion charges.
The 75-year-old McAfee was said to be worth tens of millions of dollars as a result of creating the world's first commercial anti-virus software, however, he had not had any link to the McAfee company for decades. The company was eventually sold to Intel for $7.6 billion.
McAfee, who has not lived in the United States for a long time, was arrested in Spain while attempting to board a flight to Turkey in October 2020. It was alleged by US authorities that he had not paid tax on his large cryptocurrency earnings, the selling of his life-story, which was due to be turned into a movie, or from the fees he made in the US from speaking at public events.
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.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 16, 2021
I have nothing.
Yet, I regret nothing.
McAfee had been fighting extradition to the US from Spain, but a Spanish court gave the go-ahead shortly before he was found dead.
McAfee has frequently said there is a plot to get him, though no evidence has ever been provided for this.
McAfee's lawyer said after the news of his death:
"This is again the US government trying to erase John McAfee. This man was a fighter. And in the minds of everyone who knew him, he will always be a fighter."
McAfee has long courted controversy. He lived much of his more recent years in Belize, where he lived on a compound surrounded by young women and a large stash of firearms. He had a relationship with a young woman believed to be in her early 20s during these years.
He however fled Belize after one of his neighbours was found dead. McAfee claimed that assassins may have been targeting him and killed the man as a case of mistaken identity. Belizean police had tried to track down McAfee to question him on this, but he had fled by this time to neighbouring Guatemala.
McAfee also briefly attempted to become the Libertarian candidate for US president and was well known for endorsing cryptocurrencies.
Why power corrupts. pic.twitter.com/cwbKHcaQsd
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 17, 2020
[h/t: BBC]
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