You know McAfee right? That antivirus you used to have on your dad’s old computer. Well, the founder behind that antivirus company just died. John McAfee has been found dead in Barcelona prison. You’d remember that McAfee was previously arrested in October 2020 just as he was about to board a plane to Turkey, in Spain.
McAfee was accused of failing to file tax returns for four years, despite earning millions from consulting work, speaking engagements, crypto-currencies, and even selling the rights to his life story. The story of his death was been reported by Reuters, El Mundo, and El Pais, as well as other reporters. He was being held in Barcelona prison and the Catalan Department of Justice has now stated that his death was most likely a suicide.
McAfee’s lawyers confirmed his death and also said that it was “the result of a cruel system that had no reason to keep this man in jail for so long”. McAfee was held for a long period of time in the Barcelona prison, pending extradition to the US. He was also charged with security fraud related to a cryptocurrency pump and dump scheme. Spanish courts had just approved his extradition yesterday morning with an appeal on the table.
McAfee has lived a pretty extraordinary life in the last decade. From a drug-induced video of him uninstalling McAfee Antivirus to claiming to have made a device that could block NSA surveillance. He also ran for president twice, in 2016 and 2020. He also provided pumping services and charged around $100,000 for a promotional tweet, if people wanted to boost their cryptocurrency via Twitter.
This wasn’t even the first time he had a problem with authorities and law enforcement. He was arrested back in 2012 by the Belize police under drug and firearm charges. He also went on the run later that same year after Belize police declared that he was wanted for questioning in regards to the murder of his neighbor.
In recent years before his arrest, McAfee also claimed that he was on the run from the CIA. What’s even more ominous is that he also tweeted multiple times after his arrest that he wouldn’t kill himself. Do I smell a conspiracy theory? Time to start the old mystery machine.
