MADRID – Antivirus software pioneer John McAfee was found dead in his jail cell in Spain yesterday, officials said, shortly after a court approved his extradition to the United States where he was wanted for tax evasion.
The 75-year-old was found dead in his cell in the Brians 2 penitentiary near Barcelona “apparently from suicide”, a spokesman for the prison system in the northeastern Catalonia region said.
A spokesman for the Catalan branch of the legal body which oversees Spain’s courts, the General Council of the Judiciary, also confirmed that McAfee had been found dead in his cell at around 7pm (1700 GMT) of an apparent suicide.
McAfee has been in jail in Spain since he was arrested at Barcelona airport in October 2020, just as he was about to board a flight to Istanbul.
He is alleged to have deliberately failed to file tax returns between 2014 and 2018, despite earning millions from consulting work, cryptocurrencies, and selling the rights to his life story.
If convicted, he could have faced up to 30 years in prison.
In a statement, Catalonia’s regional Justice Department said only that an investigation was opened after an unnamed 75-year-old inmate facing extradition to the US was found dead in his cell at the prison.
“Guards and medical staff intervened immediately to perform resuscitation measures but doctors eventually certified his death,” the statement added.
Spain’s National Court earlier yesterday said it had approved McAfee’s extradition to the US.
The decision could still have been appealed and the extradition needed approval from the Spanish cabinet. – AFP, June 24, 2021
