John McAfee, the magnate and entrepreneur remembered for the antivirus that bears his name, was found dead in his cell at the Brians 2 Penitentiary Center. Prison authorities reported that all details point to a death by suicide. The news arrives after the National Court confirmed his extradition process to the United States, where he was to face tax evasion charges.
Found Dead in His Cell
John McAfee had been arrested in early October 2020 at El Prat airport in Barcelona, when he planned to take a flight to Istanbul. Since then he had remained in pretrial detention, and on more than one occasion the court rejected his requests for release due to the "high risk of flight".
Police sources indicated that correctional officers found McAfee hanged, and immediately began resuscitation maneuvers, without success. Once doctors certified his death, an investigation began to confirm the causes of death. No signs of violence were detected, and McAfee's own lawyer told Reuters news agency that his client "apparently had hanged himself in his cell".
Tax Evasion Charges
McAfee's arrest in October 2020 was at the request of U.S. justice, which accused him of evading millions of dollars in taxes related to earnings from various activities, including cryptocurrency trading. McAfee's relationship with the U.S. treasury has historically been problematic. In 2019, the magnate claimed on his Twitter profile that "taxes were illegal", and confirmed that he had not filed any tax returns for more than eight years.
During the afternoon of Wednesday the 23rd, the National Court had agreed to McAfee's extradition process. The tax evasion charges dated back to 2016, 2017 and 2018, and the prosecutor's office supported his extradition for those three years, but not for what happened in 2014 and 2015, also claimed by U.S. justice. The maximum penalty for these crimes was 30 years in prison.
A Turbulent Life
Beyond his professional success, John McAfee's personal life was undoubtedly a whirlwind of drugs, alcohol, guns, presidential campaigns, yoga and meditation classes, arrests, cryptocurrencies, and a famous flight to Guatemala in December 2012, related to the death of one of his neighbors in Belize. He was 75 years old.
Source: El Mundo
Source: The Guardian
