According to reports in international media, the 75-year-old American computer programmer, John McAfee, killed himself by hanging inside his jail cell.
Officials attempted to resuscitate him, but the jail’s medical staff confirmed him dead.
The security software pioneer was not identified by name in the announcement, but it was revealed that he was a 75-year-old US citizen who was awaiting extradition to his homeland.
Mcafee claimed at a hearing earlier this month that the charges against him were politically motivated and that if he returned to Spain, he would spend the rest of his life in jail. Spain’s national court ruled in his favor on Monday.
He was apprehended at Barcelona’s international airport in October and has been kept in custody since then, pending the result of extradition procedures. He was being detained for tax evasion and securities fraud in connection with an alleged bitcoin pump and dump scam.
Meanwhile, a Chicago-based lawyer who represented him in a number of instances stated, “McAfee will be remembered as a fighter.” He wanted to love this nation, but the US government prevented him from doing so.’ ‘they tried to erase him, but they failed.’
During one of his last hearings, McAfee voiced his fear of spending the rest of his life in jail if convicted in the United States.
Soon after McAfee’s death, a tweet from 2019 became viral, in which he posted a photo of his tattoo and said, ‘Getting subtle messages from US officials saying, in effect: We’re coming for you McAfee!’ We’re going to kill you. got a tattoo today just in case. If I suicide myself, I didn’t. I was whacked. Check my right arm.’
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.$WHACKD available only on https://t.co/HdSEYi9krq🙂 pic.twitter.com/rJ0Vi2Hpjj
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) November 30, 2019
McAfee established McAfee Associates in 1987 and worked at NASA’s Institute for Space Studies in New York City from 1968 to 1970 as a programmer. In the 1980s and 1990s, he developed software to combat computer flaws that were very popular.
In 2010, he sold McAfee to Intel. He said ‘I am now everlastingly grateful to Intel for freeing me from this terrible association with the worst software on the planet.’
