John McAfee, the eccentric tech entrepreneur and founder of the antivirus software company, has died behind bars in a Spanish prison. He was 75.
McAfee was found dead on Wednesday afternoon in his cell in Brians 2 Prison in Barcelona, Spain.
Javier Villalba, McAfee’s lawyer, told Reuters that his client died by suicide.
CNBC reports the death comes just hours after a Spanish court approved McAfee’s extradition to the United States, where he is wanted on tax-related criminal charges that carry a prison sentence of up to 30 years. The Spanish newspaper El Mundo, citing the Catalan Justice Department, also reported that the prison’s medical professionals attempted to resuscitate him.
Following reports of his death, people unearthed tweets from McAfee that were posted shortly before and after he began his prison sentence in October 2020.
The first, posted nearly a year before McAfee went to prison, read, “Getting subtle messages from U.S. officials saying, in effect: ‘We’re coming for you McAfee! We’re going to kill yourself.’ I got a tattoo today just in case. If I suicide myself, I didn’t. I was whackd. Check my right arm. $WACKD.”
McAfee was arrested in October 2020, and accused of failing to file tax returns for four years, despite earning millions from consulting work, speaking engagements, crypto-currencies and selling the rights to his life story.
The U.S. Justice Department alleged that McAfee evaded tax liability by having his income paid into bank accounts and cryptocurrency exchange accounts in the names of nominees.
He was also accused of concealing assets, including a yacht and real estate property, in the names of others.
According to the indictment, McAfee earned millions of dollars in income from promoting cryptocurrencies, consulting work, speaking engagements, and selling the rights to his life story for a documentary.
McAfee took to Twitter again shortly after his imprisonment to touch on his concern that clandestine figures were keeping an eye on him. “I am content here. I have friends. The food is good. All is well. Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine,” McAfee wrote.
In light of his death, the tweet is as eerie as ever.
