News
John McAfee, Creator Of McAfee Anti-virus, Found Dead In Spanish Cell
Anti-virus software entrepreneur, John McAfee has been found dead in a Barcelona prison cell hours after a Spanish court agreed to extradite him to the US to face tax evasion charges.
The Catalan Justice Department said prison medics tried to resuscitate him, but were not successful.
It said in a statement that “everything indicates” McAfee took his own life.
A controversial figure in the tech world, his company released the first commercial anti-virus software.
McAfee VirusScan helped to spark a multi-billion dollar industry in the computer world, and was eventually sold to technology giant Intel for more than $7.6bn.
In October 2020, John McAfee was arrested in Spain when he was about to board a plane to Turkey, and accused of failing to file tax returns for four years, despite earning millions from consulting work, speaking engagements, crypto-currencies and selling the rights to his life story.
He was also accused of concealing assets, including a yacht and real estate property, also in other people’s names.
Spain’s National Court authorised his extradition to the US to face the charges on Wednesday morning.
In recent years, McAfee repeatedly claimed that there was a plot to get him – however, the court said there was “no revealing evidence” that he was being prosecuted for political or ideological reasons, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported.
He had argued in a hearing earlier this month that the charges against him were politically motivated and that he would spend the rest of his life in prison if returned to the US.
But Nishay Sanan, McAfee’s lawyer, said he had intended to fight all the charges.
The entrepreneur, who was born in Gloucestershire, England first came to prominence in the 1980s when he founded his tech company and released McAfee VirusScan.
Although a pioneer of computer security, he once admitted to the BBC that he never actually used the software on his own computers – or any anti-virus software for that matter.
“I protect myself by constantly changing my IP [internet protocol] address, by not attaching my name to any device I use, and by not going on to sites where you might pick up a virus,” he told the BBC’s technology reporter Leo Kelion in 2013.
“Porn sites, for example, I just don’t go there.”
He also launched unsuccessful bids to become the Libertarian Party’s candidate for the presidential elections in 2016 and 2020.
In the same year, he was briefly detained in the Dominican Republic for allegedly bringing weapons into the country.
-
Society News4 years agoJamaican man beheads wife after finding out their 6 kids are not his
-
Society News6 years agoEXCLUSIVE: The Complete Story of Dolapo Awosika, John Fashanu and Prophet Kasali Sex Mess
-
News4 years agoPastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, His Membership Of Secret Cult, And Other Issues Touching On His Public Credentials Examined by Barr. PATRICK I. BIOSE
-
News4 years agoBREAKING: Ajimobi’s daughter-in-law blast Gov. Makinde, says gov can’t surpass ex-Oyo gov
-
News4 years agoBREAKING: 2 arrested as NAF begins investigations into Tolulope’s death
-
Crime5 years agoExclusive: Female Aide Fingered In Oko Oloyun’s Murder + Banking Transactions That Nailed Husband
-
News4 years agoBREAKING: Police take over Edo House of Assembly as APC, Oshiomhole move to seize control
-
Society News5 years agoThe Rise and Fall of “Jumoke The Bread Seller”
You must be logged in to post a comment Login