Anti-virus mogul John McAfee found dead in prison cell
Facing extradition to the US for tax fraud, the 75-year-old businessman allegedly committed suicide in Catalonia’s Brians 2 prison
The anti-virus mogul John McAfee has been found dead in his prison cell in the Brians 2 penitentiary near Barcelona on Wednesday, as confirmed by Catalan authorities.
Aged 75, the creator of the popular McAfee anti-virus is thought to have committed suicide after Spain’s National court greenlighted on Tuesday his extradition to the United States, where he was wanted for tax fraud.
McAfee was arrested last October in the El Prat airport in Barcelona when he was travelling with two other people to Istanbul.
He was intercepted by Interpol agents, on behalf of US authorities, as he was going through border controls.
The software mogul was sent to the Brians penitentiary center in Sant Esteve Sesrovires without the possibility of bail.
McAfee’s previous encounters with law enforcement
That was not McAfee’s first run-in with the law, in 2012 he was arrested and deported from Guatemala for entering the country illegally. He had arrived in the country, once again fleeing US authorities as they wanted to question him for the murder of his neighbor in Belize.
More recently, he was arrested in the Dominican Republic in 2019 for harboring weapons on his yacht. However, the Dominican authorities allowed him to leave and McAfee flew to England.