Larger-than-life software mogul John McAfee dies in Spain by suicide, lawyer says

BARCELONA, June 23 (Reuters) – (This June 23 tale corrects to show John McAfee was no for a longer time included in McAfee antivirus enterprise when Intel bought it)

British-born U.S. technologies entrepreneur John McAfee died on Wednesday by suicide in a Barcelona prison soon after the Spanish large court authorised his extradition to the United States on tax evasion expenses, his attorney explained to Reuters.

McAfee’s lawyer, Javier Villalba, mentioned the anti-virus computer software pioneer died by hanging as his 9 months in prison introduced him to despair.

Through a court hearing past thirty day period, McAfee, 75, explained that presented his age, he would shell out the rest of his life in jail if convicted in the United States. “I am hoping that the Spanish court docket will see the injustice of this,” he reported, incorporating “the United States wants to use me as an instance.”

McAfee experienced lived for yrs on the run from U.S. authorities, some of that time aboard a megayacht. He was indicted in Tennessee on tax evasion rates and was charged in a cryptocurrency fraud scenario in New York.

The vibrant tech founder was detained on Oct. 3 at the Barcelona airport as he was about to board a flight to Istanbul with a British passport, a Spanish police resource stated at the time.

McAfee labored for NASA, Xerox and Lockheed Martin prior to launching the world’s initial business anti-virus in 1987. Intel (INTC.O) acquired the enterprise in 2011, when McAfee himself no extended experienced any involvement. The system even now carries his name and has 500 million users around the globe.

Spain’s high court docket claimed on Wednesday it agreed to extradite McAfee to the United States. The regional justice department verified that a U.S. guy aged 75 awaiting extradition was observed dead in his mobile on Wednesday. Prison authorities were being investigating the bring about of demise.

McAfee however had chances to attractiveness his conviction but could not stand a lot more time in jail, Villalba mentioned.

“This is the consequence of a cruel procedure that experienced no purpose to preserve this person in jail for so long,” Villalba explained. U.S. prosecutors will probable inquire the choose overseeing the tax evasion circumstance to dismiss fees for the reason that of McAfee’s death.

McAfee claimed in 2019 that he experienced not paid U.S. profits taxes for eight many years for ideological factors. That year, he still left the United States to prevent trial, mainly living on a megayacht with his spouse, 4 substantial puppies, two safety guards and 7 employees.

He offered to assistance Cuba stay clear of a U.S. trade embargo utilizing cryptocurrency and sought to run for U.S. president for the Libertarian Celebration.

McAfee, who stated in 2018 that he experienced fathered at minimum 47 little ones, lived in Belize for a number of yrs. He fled after police sought him for questioning in the 2012 murder of a neighbour. They in the end mentioned he was not a suspect.

He achieved his spouse, Janice McAfee, when she solicited him as a prostitute whilst he was on the run, he explained.

Janice McAfee explained in a article on Twitter on Sunday, “Now the U.S. authorities are decided to have John die in prison to make an case in point of him for talking out against the corruption in their government businesses… There is no hope of him ever owning a truthful demo in The united states.”

McAfee was a prolific consumer of Twitter, the place he had 1 million followers, and other social media.

He posted a profanity-laced online video on YouTube in 2013 that mocked the issue of taking away the software program that bore his name from desktops.

A variety of cryptocurrency backers around the earth on Wednesday posted tweets of condolence. In his past general public tweet on June 18, McAfee wrote: “All electrical power corrupts. Acquire care which powers you let a democracy to wield.”

Reporting by Inti Landauro and Joan Faus, Enhancing by Franklin Paul

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