Antivirus creator McAfee found dead in prison after court allows extradition

McAfee antivirus software creator found dead in Spanish prison hours after court okays his extradition to the US.

John McAfee, the creator of the McAfee antivirus software, has been found dead in his cell in a jail near Barcelona, a government official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Founder of the first commercial anti-virus program that bore his name, John McAfee listens during the 4th China Internet Security Conference (ISC) in Beijing.(AP/ File photo)

Hours earlier, a Spanish court issued a preliminary ruling in favor of his extradition to the United States to face tax-related criminal charges.

Security personnel at the Brians 2 penitentiary near the northeastern Spanish city tried to revive McAfee, who was 75, but the jail’s medical team finally certified his death, a statement from the regional Catalan government said.

The statement didn’t identify the US tycoon by name, but said he was a 75-year-old US citizen awaiting extradition to the country. A Catalan government source familiar with the event who was not authorized to be named in media reports confirmed to the AP that the dead man was McAfee.

Spain’s National Court had approved the extradition of detained antivirus software entrepreneur John McAfee to the United States, where he was wanted on tax-related criminal charges that carry a prison sentence of up to 30 years.

The decision can be appealed and the final extradition will need to be approved by the Spanish Cabinet.

Tennessee prosecutors charged 75-year-old McAfee with evading taxes after failing to report income made from promoting cryptocurrencies while he did consultancy work, as well as income from speaking engagements and selling the rights to his life story for a documentary.

The charges refer to the three fiscal years from 2016 to 2018, according to the Spanish court's ruling on Wednesday.

The entrepreneur was arrested last October at Barcelona’s international airport. A judge ordered at that time that McAfee should be held in jail while awaiting the outcome of a hearing on extradition.

In a hearing held via videolink earlier this month, McAfee argued that the charges against him were politically motivated and said he would spend the rest of his life in prison if he was returned to the US.