Anti-virus creator John McAfee commits suicide in prison cell

Anti-virus software entrepreneur John McAfee was arrested at Barcelona airport last year when he was trying to board a flight to Istanbul.  Since then, he had been held in custody in Brians 2 jail in Sant Esteve Sesrovires.

The computer programmer faced extradition to the US to answer charges of tax evasion.

Earlier on Wednesday, the court ordered that the tech entrepreneur should be handed over to authorities in the United States.

In May, a hearing held via videolink, in which McAfee said the charges against him were politically motivated. He even argued that he would spend the rest of his life in prison if he was extradited.

As per prosecutors’ allegations the 75-year old failed to file tax returns for four years, despite earning millions from consulting work, speaking engagements, and crypto-currencies.

He earned millions with the antivirus software in the 1980s that still bears his name.

Reportedly, if he had been convicted, he would have faced up to 30 years in prison.

Last October, in a filing, he had raked in more than $23 million in undisclosed income.

However, he always denied the allegations, taking to social media earlier this month to protest his innocence.

The US believes I have hidden crypto. I wish I did but it has dissolved through the many hands of Team McAfee (your belief is not required), and my remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association.

I have nothing.

Yet, I regret nothing.

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 16, 2021

The computer programmer had fathered as many as 47 children.

In 2012, US authorities tried to implicate him in the murder of his 54-yearold neighbor. While, no charges were ever brought. McAfee insisted he was innocent and the victim of a set-up.

After the news broke, McAfee's lawyer Javier Villalba stated, "This is the result of a cruel system that had no reason to keep this man in jail for so long".