John McAfee, the software tycoon and founder of the antivirus company McAfee Associates, was found dead in his prison cell in a jail near Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday, authorities confirmed. He was 75.
Authorities are investigating cause of death.
Security personnel at the Brians 2 penitentiary near the northeastern Spanish city tried to revive him, but the jail’s medical team finally certified his death, a statement from the regional Catalan government said.
“A judicial delegation has arrived to investigate the causes of death,” the statement said, adding that “Everything points to death by suicide.”
Just hours earlier, a Spanish court granted McAfee's extradition to the United States on tax-related criminal charges.
McAfee, who sold his stake eponymous antivirus company in the 1990s, was accused of evading taxes between the years of 2014 and 2018, according to federal prosecutors in the Western District of Tennessee, despite raking in millions from consulting work, speaking engagements, selling the rights to his life story for a documentary. He also allegedly attempted to evade payment by concealing assets in purchases through other peoples' names - including cars and yachts, among others.
He was charged last October in Tennessee with tax evasion and willful failure to file tax returns after failing to report income made from promoting cryptocurrencies while he did consulting work, made speaking engagements and sold the rights to his life story for a documentary. The criminal charges carry a prison sentence of up to 30 years.
In October 2020, McAfee was arrested at an airport in Barcelona, where he remained held pending his extradition to the United States.
"From 2014 to 2018, the defendant earned more than 10 million euros in income and therefore accumulated millions of dollars in tax liabilities," according to a U.S. extradition request filed in November. "He did not file tax returns during any of those years."
The Spanish High Court handed down its decision late Wednesday, though it would have needed approval by the Spanish Cabinet before McAfee was sent to the U.S.
In March 2021, federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York indicted McAfee in an unrelated matter, for his alleged role in a cryptocurrency "pump and dump" scheme.
McAfee referenced the charges against him in a tweet earlier this month, writing that U.S. prosecutors believe "I have hidden crypto. I wish I did," he said, adding that his money had since "dissolved." "My remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association. I have nothing. Yet, I regret nothing."
The last post from McAfee’s Twitter account was a retweet of a Father’s Day message from his wife Janice McAfee.
“These eight months John has spent in prison in Spain have been especially hard on his overall health both mentally and physically, as well as financially, but he is undeterred from continuing to speak truth to power,” it said.
The U.S. embassy in Madrid didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
He twice ran long-shot bids for U.S. president and was a participant in Libertarian Party presidential debates in 2016.
In July 2019, McAfee was released from detention in the Dominican Republic after he and five others were suspected of traveling on a yacht carrying high-caliber weapons, ammunition and military-style gear, officials on the Caribbean island said at the time.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
