According to the authorities, John McAfee, the pioneer of McAfee, was found dead in the prison cell near Barcelona in an apparent suicide by hanging on Wednesday. His death news came some hours after a Spanish court accepted his extradition to the U.S. to face tax charges punishable by almost thirty years in prison. He was a political activist, and the Spain police arrested him on 6th October 2020 over tax evasion charges.
Just before the announcement of the charges against McAfee, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission brought civil charges against him, and in case of conviction in the criminal act, he could face thirty years in prison. Moreover, the eccentric cryptocurrency promoter faced a series of legal troubles spanned from Tennessee to Central America to the Caribbean. After his hanging body found, the security personnel tried to revive him, but the medical team of the jail finally confirmed his death.
The Catalan regional government said that a judicial delegation arrived to investigate the death cause, but all evidence point to death by suicide. Furthermore, the statement did not identify McAfee by name, but it announced the dead person was a seventy-five-year-old American citizen expecting extradition to his country. An anonymous official of the Catalan government familiar with the matter confirmed to the international news agencies that the dead man was McAfee.
McAfee Arrest at Barcelona’s International Airport
On Monday, the National Court of Spain ruled in favor of extraditing McAfee, who previously argued in a hearing that the charges against him by prosecuting attorneys in Tennessee were politically motivated and that McAfee would spend the rest of his life in jail if returned to the United States. The ruling of the court made public on Wednesday and was also open for appeal, with any ultimate extradition order needing approval from the Cabinet of Spain.
The security forces of Barcelona arrested McAfee last October at the international airport, and was in jail since then. He was also waiting for the outcome of extradition proceedings. His arrest in Barcelona followed charges the same month in Tennessee for avoiding taxes after failing to report his income from endorsing cryptocurrencies during his consulting work, and he sold the rights to his life story for a documentary video. Additionally, the criminal charges against him carried a prison punishment for up to thirty years.
On 16th June 2021, John McAfee tweeted that the United States believes he has hidden crypto. He wrote that he wished that he did, but it dissolved through several hands of Team McAfee, and his remaining assets are all in custody. In the end, he added that he has nothing, but he regrets nothing.
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 U.S. Government made McAfee Existence Impossible
The Chicago-based attorney, Nishay Sanan, said on the phone that they will always remember McAfee as a fighter. Sanan said that McAfee tried to love his country, but the American administration made his survival impossible. They tried to erase the Antivirus pioneer, but they failed. In addition, the lawyer said the authorities in Spain didn’t mention a cause of death to his legal team, and he wants to ask the authorities if there was a CCTV camera in the prison of McAfee.
Source: Web
The office of the United States Attorney in Memphis denied commenting. On the other hand, Tennessee prosecutors argued that McAfee owed the American administration $4214105 in taxes before interests or fines for undeclared income during fiscal years from 2014 to 2018, according to the document of the Spanish court. However, the National Court judge agreed in this week’s ruling to extradite him only to face court charges from f016 to 2018.
In 2019, a Florida court ordered him to pay twenty-five million U.S. dollars to the estate of Faull in a wrongful death claim. But the court released McAfee in the July of that year from detention in the Dominican Republic when he and five other people alleged traveling on a yacht carrying high-caliber weapons, military-style gear, and ammunition. McAfee tweeted his last message on Father’s Day.
Happy Father’s Day @officialmcafee. Though you are spending the day in prison know that you are loved and appreciated. #FreeJohnMcAfee #FreeMcAfee pic.twitter.com/YFmB36KWfb
— Janice McAfee (@theemrsmcafee) June 20, 2021
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