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".
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."
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Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
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