The creator of McAfee antivirus software, John McAfee, was found dead in his penitentiary cell in northeastern Spain, hours after a Spanish court approved his extradition to the United States to face tax evasion charges, according to statements from the regional Catalan government. From early reports, security personnel tried to revive him but a initial cause of death points to suicide.
Known to be quite an eccentric, McAfee often turned to Twitter to share music and views, plus he was a 2020 U.S. Presidential candidate who was running his campaign from a boat in the Bahamas. He was a huge proponent of digital currencies and often stated that he refused to pay taxes and had not filed taxes in the last eight years.
McAfee saw technology as a viable solution to many of society’s woes and has often called out the government for being fundamentally dysfunctional.
He was arrested at Barcelona’s international airport in October 2020 and had been in jail ever since and he was facing criminal charges with a sentence up to 30 years. His arrest followed charges after the IRS convened a grand jury in the state of Tennessee for tax evasion. Surrounded by questions and controversy, he was also a “person of interest” for a murder investigation in Belize.
Twitter has been buzzing with conspiracy theories surrounding his death. Many claim that he’s been “Epsteined” because he has often claimed that if he is dead by suicide, he didn’t do it. People will speculate for years because the timing is questionable, especially since he had been tweeting from prison fairly regularly.
For those who were fortunate (or unfortunate) to meet the man; whether you were a fan or not, he was never boring. John McAfee was 75 years old.
