John McAfee found dead in prison cell ahead of extradition to US

One of the fathers of antivirus software, the entrepreneur John McAfee has been found dead in a Barcelona prison cell while he was waiting for extradition to the US.

The popular cybersecurity entrepreneur John McAfee has been found dead in a Barcelona prison cell, a few hours after Spain’s National Court agreed to extradite him to the US to face charges for tax evasion.

According to the Catalan Justice Department, the doctors at the prison tried in vain to revive the man, they believe that he committed suicide.

John McAfee was the founder of the homonym anti-virus maker and ran it until 1994, when he resigned from the company.  The company was purchased by Intel in 2011 for more than $7.6bn.

On October 6, 2020, McAfee was arrested in Spain over tax evasion charges while he was about to board a plane to Turkey. 

According to the indictment, the expert earned millions in income from promoting cryptocurrencies, consulting work, speaking engagements, and selling the rights to his life story for a documentary.

The authorities claim that the McAfee failed to file tax returns for incomes related to a period between 2014 and 2018.

“From 2014 to 2018, McAfee allegedly failed to file tax returns, despite receiving considerable income from these sources.” reads the press release published by DoJ.

“According to the indictment, McAfee allegedly evaded his tax liability by directing his income to be paid into bank accounts and cryptocurrency exchange accounts in the names of nominees.”

The investigators suppose that the income was directed into bank accounts and cryptocurrency exchange accounts in the names of nominees. 

According to prosecutors, McAfee allegedly attempted to evade the IRS by concealing assets, including real property, a vehicle, and a yacht, in the names of others.

The indictment does not allege that during these years McAfee received any income or had any connection with the anti-virus company bearing his name.

The DoJ announced the charges after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also charged McAfee with fraudulently touting ICOs.

In 2019 John McAfee tweeted that he had not filed tax returns for eight years because “taxation is illegal.”

John was a pioneer of modern cybersecurity, a visioner, I had the opportunity to speak with him a few years ago and he was very pretty.

Rest in peace John, you have had a complicated life, as tormented as you wanted it, personally I will always remember your passion and the kind person who wanted to share his vision with me.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, McAfee)

The post John McAfee found dead in prison cell ahead of extradition to US appeared first on Security Affairs.