British-born US technology entrepreneur John McAfee committed suicide on Wednesday in a Barcelona prison after the Spanish high court authorised his extradition to the US on tax evasion charges,.
McAfee's lawyer, Javier Villalba, told Reuters that the antivirus software pioneer died by hanging as his nine months in prison brought him to despair.
During a court hearing last month, McAfee, 75, said that given his age, he would spend the rest of his life in jail if convicted in the US.
"I am hoping that the Spanish court will see the injustice of this," he said, claiming that "the United States wants to use me as an example".
-
John McAfee, founder of McAfee Antivirus, appears via videoconference during his extradition hearing at Audiencia Nacional court, in Madrid, Spain. EPA -
McAfee speaks during the China Internet Security Conference in Beijing, 2016. He was found dead in a prison cell near Barcelona this week. AFP -
McAfee speaks during an interview in Havana, Cuba, 2019. Reuters -
McAfee speaks at the Malta Blockchain Summit in St Julian's, Malta, 2018. Reuters -
McAfee announces his candidacy for president in Opelika, Alabama, 2015. Opelika-Auburn News via AP -
McAfee is escorted by immigration officers to the airport in Guatemala City, 2012. Reuters -
McAfee talks on his mobile phone as he walks on Ocean Drive in the South Beach area of Miami, Florida in 2012. AP -
McAfee speaks during an interview with Reuters in Guatemala City, 2012. Reuters
McAfee had for years been on the run from US authorities, some of that time aboard a megayacht. He was indicted in Tennessee on tax evasion charges and was charged in a cryptocurrency fraud case in New York.
The colourful tech founder was detained on October 3 at Barcelona airport as he was about to board a flight to Istanbul with a British passport, a Spanish police source said at the time.
McAfee worked for Nasa, Xerox and Lockheed Martin before launching the world's first commercial antivirus programme in 1987.
He sold his software company to Intel in 2011 and no longer had any involvement in the business. The programme still carries his name and has 500 million users worldwide.
McAfee still had opportunities to appeal against his conviction but could not stand more time in jail, Mr Villalba said.
"This is the result of a cruel system that had no reason to keep this man in jail for so long," Mr Villalba said.
US prosecutors will probably ask the judge overseeing the tax evasion case to dismiss charges because of McAfee's death.
McAfee said in 2019 that he had not paid US income taxes for eight years for ideological reasons. That year, he left the country to avoid trial, living mostly on a megayacht with his wife, four large dogs, two security guards and seven members of staff.
He offered to help Cuba avoid a US trade embargo using cryptocurrency and sought to run for US president for the Libertarian Party.
McAfee, who said in 2018 that he had fathered at least 47 children, lived in Belize for several years. He fled after police sought him for questioning in the 2012 murder of a neighbour, although they ultimately said he was not a suspect.
He met his wife, Janice McAfee, when, as a prostitute, she solicited him while he was on the run, he said.
Mrs McAfee said in a post on Twitter on Sunday: "Now the US authorities are determined to have John die in prison to make an example of him for speaking out against the corruption within their government agencies ... there is no hope of him ever having a fair trial in America."
McAfee was a prolific user of Twitter, where he had one million followers.
He posted a profanity-laced video on YouTube in 2013 that mocked the difficulty of removing the software that bore his name from computers.
A number of cryptocurrency backers around the world on Wednesday posted tweets of condolence. In his last public tweet on June 18, McAfee wrote: "All power corrupts. Take care which powers you allow a democracy to wield."
