John McAfee dies in Spanish prison following extradition order to US

Posted:
in General Discussion edited June 2021
Eccentric software mogul John McAfee, best known for a suite of antivirus programs that bore his name, died in a Spanish prison Wednesday after a court in that country authorized his extradition to the United States. He was 75.

John McAfee
Source: CNN


According to McAfee's lawyer, who confirmed details of his death to Reuters, the British-born technology trailblazer hanged himself in his Barcelona prison cell.

Hours before his body was discovered, a Spanish high court approved McAfee's extradition to the U.S., where he would face tax evasion and fraud charges. He was arrested in Spain in 2020 after U.S. prosecutors accused him of failing to file tax returns between 2014 to 2018. In October, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged him with promoting various cryptocurrency offerings on Twitter -- activities for which he received some $23 million -- without disclosing that he was being paid to do so, The New York Times reports.

The Spanish court on Wednesday denied McAfee's plea for immunity citing political persecution.

"The social, economic or any other relevance the defense claims the appellant possesses does not grant him any immunity," the ruling stated, according to The Times.

For his part, McAfee claimed he paid "millions of dollars in taxes" and said the U.S. tax evasion charges stemmed from an ideological conflict. In a series of tweets in 2019, he accused the Internal Revenue Service of corruption and revealed that he had not paid U.S. income taxes for eight years. He retreated to his megayacht that same year, living on the seas with his wife and a contingent of security and staff.

McAfee sold his eponymous software company in 2011 and Intel rebranded the product in 2014. He ran for president twice, in 2016 and 2020, as a Libertarian Party candidate.

McAfee had multiple encounters with the law, both in the U.S. and abroad. In 2012, while living in Belize, he was arrested on drug and firearm charges and later fled from his home after being named as a person of interest in the murder of his neighbor. He was arrested in Guatemala after entering the country to seek political asylum.

In 2016, McAfee offered to decrypt an iPhone used by a suspect in the San Bernardino terrorist attack, saying the Federal Bureau of Investigation lacked the expertise of his team. Nothing came of the proposition.

An avid tweeter, McAfee's missives are now fodder for conspiracy theories. In tweets posted in 2019 and 2020, McAfee said he would not kill himself and alludes to a supposed government assassination plot.

"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," a tweet from 2019 reads.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 54
    Al Pacino could star in the movie version. 
    gregoriusmd_2CloudTalkinllamamknelsonlkruppdysamoriaStrangeDaysargonautkurai_kage
  • Reply 2 of 54
    mcdavemcdave Posts: 1,927member
    The ultimate tax-dodge.
    h4y3sdoozydozenmark fearingdewmedysamoriaStrangeDayskurai_kagewatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 54
    h4y3sh4y3s Posts: 82member
    Anyone know the real story?
    bloggerblogwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 54
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    h4y3s said:
    Anyone know the real story?
    Other than he became a paranoid nut-bar that offed himself when he ran out of options?
    bonobobdoozydozenmark fearingpulseimagesCloudTalkindewmelkruppdysamoriaStrangeDaysargonaut
  • Reply 5 of 54
    22july201322july2013 Posts: 3,564member
    Al Pacino could star in the movie version. 
    Looks, and sounds, more like Jeffrey Epstein to me.
    entropysthe1maximuswatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 54
    BeatsBeats Posts: 3,073member
    R.I.P.
    This man’s virus alerts nagged all Windows machines across the world.
    patchythepirateqwerty52StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 54
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    Beats said:
    R.I.P.
    This man’s virus alerts nagged all Windows machines across the world.
    I don't know about early on, it might have been good at one time.  When I was doing IT support though MacAfee AntiVirus was a plague. It was one of the thinks we nuked new machines to get rid of.
    dysamoria
  • Reply 8 of 54
    iadlibiadlib Posts: 95member
    Another crazy rich person 🥸
    williamlondondysamoriawatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 54
    bonobobbonobob Posts: 382member
    DAalseth said:
    Beats said:
    R.I.P.
    This man’s virus alerts nagged all Windows machines across the world.
    I don't know about early on, it might have been good at one time.  When I was doing IT support though MacAfee AntiVirus was a plague. It was one of the thinks we nuked new machines to get rid of.
    Back in DOS days, it was one of the best.  
    DogpersonbeowulfschmidtDAalsethllamadocno42watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 54
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    bonobob said:
    DAalseth said:
    Beats said:
    R.I.P.
    This man’s virus alerts nagged all Windows machines across the world.
    I don't know about early on, it might have been good at one time.  When I was doing IT support though MacAfee AntiVirus was a plague. It was one of the thinks we nuked new machines to get rid of.
    Back in DOS days, it was one of the best.  
    I don't recall McAfee being available on DOS.  The ability for viruses to infect PC's in the MS-DOS era was next to zero wasn't it?  Unless it was transferred via infected floppy disks?
    qwerty52watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 54
    BeatsBeats Posts: 3,073member
    DAalseth said:
    Beats said:
    R.I.P.
    This man’s virus alerts nagged all Windows machines across the world.
    I don't know about early on, it might have been good at one time.  When I was doing IT support though MacAfee AntiVirus was a plague. It was one of the thinks we nuked new machines to get rid of.

    When I remember Windows, I remember McAfee always nagging about software updates, security risks and viruses. I remember every Windows machine having it (pre?) installed.
    qwerty52
  • Reply 12 of 54
    jeffharrisjeffharris Posts: 776member
    Boo Hoo.

    We ALL die. So what?
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 54
    jdwjdw Posts: 1,324member
    Boo Hoo.
    We ALL die. So what?

    Curious if that is what you publicly declare at the funerals of your own loved ones.  If it is, may I suggest those two lines as the perfect inscription for your own tombstone.  It would certainly make your stone the most popular in the cemetery! :-) 
    JapheyBeatsrundhvidwilliamlondonnadrielMacProDogpersonuraharadewmemacplusplus
  • Reply 14 of 54
    jdwjdw Posts: 1,324member
    Is he REALLY dead? He had a lot of money…. 
    No doubt they have the same conversations at every Coroner's office...

    Q: Is this guy REALLY dead?
    A: Yes. He didn't have much money.
    sphericdrdavidmknelsonargonautwatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 54
    libertyforalllibertyforall Posts: 1,418member
    Hard to know what the truth is.  However, suffice it to say, we need LESS government in our lives and less taxation and spending by government so we can have MORE freedoms.  
    patchythepiratewilliamlondondocno42
  • Reply 16 of 54
    tomasulutomasulu Posts: 54member
    I have never gotten any virus on any of my computers the last 20 years. Not sure why people would spend money on anti virus software. 
    williamlondonlkrupp
  • Reply 17 of 54
    FWIW, he came out with a social media post late last year (edit: maybe in 2019 actually) showing a tattoo spelled “whackd”, I think, and warning ppl that he would never commit suicide, so if he mysteriously died of suicide, it wasn’t him. Pretty strange stuff. To his credit, he seemed to have called it. Makes me more curious about whatever he was getting into. I didn’t follow him so I’m not really sure. 
    edited June 2021 BeatsDogpersonchemengin1watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 54
    petripetri Posts: 118member
    FWIW, he came out with a social media post late last year (edit: maybe in 2019 actually) showing a tattoo spelled “whackd”, I think, and warning ppl that he would never commit suicide, so if he mysteriously died of suicide, it wasn’t him. Pretty strange stuff. To his credit, he seemed to have called it. Makes me more curious about whatever he was getting into. I didn’t follow him so I’m not really sure. 
    Did he “call it” or was he cornered, suffering paranoid delusions and reacting publicly to his own private thoughts of suicide?  Governments don’t kill people for tax evasion.  
    nadrielsconosciutodrdaviddysamoriaStrangeDaysargonautkurai_kagewatto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 54
    XedXed Posts: 2,519member
    sflocal said:
    bonobob said:
    DAalseth said:
    Beats said:
    R.I.P.
    This man’s virus alerts nagged all Windows machines across the world.
    I don't know about early on, it might have been good at one time.  When I was doing IT support though MacAfee AntiVirus was a plague. It was one of the thinks we nuked new machines to get rid of.
    Back in DOS days, it was one of the best.  
    I don't recall McAfee being available on DOS.  The ability for viruses to infect PC's in the MS-DOS era was next to zero wasn't it?  Unless it was transferred via infected floppy disks?
    IIRc, the company was founded in 1987 and he left in 1994.
  • Reply 20 of 54
    XedXed Posts: 2,519member
    DAalseth said:
    Beats said:
    R.I.P.
    This man’s virus alerts nagged all Windows machines across the world.
    I don't know about early on, it might have been good at one time.  When I was doing IT support though MacAfee AntiVirus was a plague. It was one of the thinks we nuked new machines to get rid of.
    McAfee has stated that he does the same thing.
    Beatswatto_cobra
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