John McAfee’s hectic life and mysterious prison death: suicidal or suicidal?

John McAfee, the creator of computer antivirus which bears his last name, was found dead this Wednesday, June 23, in his cell in a Spanish prison, apparently by suicide according to initial information, although for the moment the mystery persists. Hours earlier, the National Court had approved extradition to his home country, the United States.

“He was found dead in his cell apparently by suicide», Reported the spokesperson for the penitentiary system of Catalonia (north-east), without giving more details on the case of 75 year old businessman who was found in his cell in Brians 2 prison, located near Barcelona.

John Mcafee has been charged in the United States with tax evasion. He was detained in October 2020 at Barcelona airport following the publication by an American lawyer of an indictment against him for having omitted declare more than 10 millions income dollars between 2014 and 2018 for the promotion of crypto-currencies, consulting services, conferences and rights sold for a documentary on his life.

Antivirus creator McAfee was found dead in prison before being extradited to the United States

The American authorities had issued a Interpol arrest warrant and extradition request. The authorization of the Spanish courts for his extradition could still be appealed against and the authorization had to be approved by the Spanish government.

Who was John McAfee, a life full of gruesome episodes and eccentricities

McAfee was involved in a police mystery in 2012 when His neighbor, also American Gregory Faull, in Belize, a small Central American country, has been found mysteriously murdered in a case that has not yet been resolved.. Supposedly, they had a dispute over some dogs. In addition, the police discovered that he lived with a 17-year-old girl and had weapons in her home.

The businessman fled Belize, where he was residing at the time. He dyed his hair and beard, painted his teeth and put gum on his gums so they couldn’t recognize him. Until, he said, hidden in boxes buried under the sand to avoid getting caught.

He managed to escape to Guatemala, but there he was arrested and deported to the United States. As he assured, after being extradited He met his last wife, Janice McAfee, in Miami Beach, after she offered him her services as a prostitute, according to BBC. They got married and settled on a rural Tennessee ranch. From there, the businessman He launched his first presidential campaign in 2016 for the Libertarian Party, although his candidacy ultimately failed.

In 2019, he left his country again. He first arrived in the Bahamas, from where he said that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) will try to arrest him for his tax crimes. “The The CIA tried to hold us back; now we are at sea and soon we will give more information; I will continue in the dark for the next few days, ”he wrote, in an illustrated tweet with a picture of you holding an assault weapon next to a woman on a yacht.

McAfee said the US authorities were persecuting him for “failing to file income tax returns”, which he considered “not a crime” because he considered the taxes “unfair”. So he traveled to Cuba, stayed on his yacht in the exclusive Marina Hemingway, from where he posted photos, videos and comments on tobacco, restaurants, expensive drinks and parties.

In Havana, he announced he would establish his tropical headquarters for the 2020 election, his second attempt to reach the White House, with a campaign based on cryptocurrencies and free trade. Shortly after announcing that I was “at sea” again and was arrested shortly after in a port in the Dominican Republic with various weapons on board his yacht and over $ 80,000 in cash.

The tycoon was arrested when he moored his boat in the bay of the water park Ocean World in Puerto Plata, north of the Dominican Republic. In the Yate Bautizado The Great Mystery, in which six people were traveling, They were seized a Lexington rifle, pistol, magazines and cartridges.

He was released and his destination was unknown again for months, until he announced he was in London, his last destination until his arrest in Barcelona.

How McAfee made a fortune using popular computer antivirus

McAfee was born on an American military base in England. He was the son of a British woman who met an American soldier during World War II. In his childhood he moved to Virginia. Her father was an alcoholic who committed suicide when McAfee was 15. Later, he himself followed in his footsteps in excess alcohol and drugs. Still, he had a promising college career.

However, the Louisiana State University finished his Doctorate in Mathematics after it was revealed to be he had slept with a student he was supervising, recorded the BBC. However, he ended up marrying this young woman.

In the 1980s, his drug abuse forced him to seek help. He also had numerous excesses with the prostitution. As he said in several interviews, had 47 children.

In one of his jobs he met a unusual self-replication code, made for copies itself to any floppy disk inserted in infected computers. His the first contact with a virus fascinated him and designed a way to disinfect computers then extend the treatment through a precursor network system.

This inspired him to create his own business from the parking lot of his house: McAfee Associate, with which he developed all kinds of programs to detect and eliminate computer viruses. At first he offered it free to common users and later he started selling it to different companies.

In 1992, a large number of companies were using antivirus software from McAfee, which soon after sold the company to Intel. In the mid-1990s, at age 50, McAfee retired from the company.

After having done fortune with your antivirus in the 80s, Mcafee became a cryptocurrency guru, He even claimed he made $ 2,000 a day with them and was followed by around a million people on Twitter.

Regarding this cryptocurrency case, the businessman was indicted in March by the American justice, in another case, for allegedly using inside information and profit from it in the sale of cryptocurrencies.

In a tweet posted to his account on June 16, McAfee wrote that the North American authorities believe he “hid cryptocurrencies“” I would like to have them, “but” my remaining possessions are all confiscated. My friends evaporated for fear of being associated with me. I have nothing. And I don’t regret anything. “

But her life has always been full of Horrible episodes, adventures and eccentricities of all kinds continued to make headlines.

A few hours before his death, the Spanish justice had approved his extradition to the United States

Mcafee was arrested in October at Barcelona airport while attempting to travel to Turkey, and placed in preventive prison while waiting for that extradition request has been resolved.

The decision of the Spanish National Court, dated June 21 and delivered this Wednesday, it was still subject to appeal and had to be approved as a last resort by the Spanish government.

“He did not file tax returns in any of those years (between 2014 and 2018) and did not pay any of his tax obligations,” according to the order of the National Court, a high court based in Madrid.

“To hide his income and assets”, claimed “He ordered the payment of part of his income to straw men and put properties in their name”The report adds, citing arguments from the US tax administration, which estimates the businessman’s debt at $ 4.2 million before penalties and interest.

The National Court accepted extradition for an alleged fiscal offense in 2016, 2017 and 2018. If he was surrendered and tried, he could face a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

DE / DS