John McAfee Found Dead in Spanish Prison
According to reports from Spanish media, on June 23, 2021, John McAfee was found dead in his prison cell. The founder of McAfee, a pioneer in antivirus software and, in recent years, a well-known cryptocurrency enthusiast, McAfee was arrested in the fall of 2020 for tax evasion and securities law violations.
Arrest
In the fall of 2020, John McAfee, founder of McAfee, was arrested in Spain after being charged with tax evasion, willful failure to file tax returns, and violating securities laws. According to the indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice, McAfee failed to pay taxes on income earned between 2014 and 2018. The U.S. government also claimed that McAfee had long avoided meetings with tax inspectors and tried to hide his assets, including real estate and a yacht, typically by transferring ownership to others.
In the spring of 2021, U.S. authorities brought a number of new charges against McAfee related to his activity on Twitter. According to officials, he earned millions of dollars from his large following by promoting various cryptocurrencies—without paying any taxes on these earnings. It was also noted that in recent years, McAfee regularly received fees for speaking engagements and consulting, and profited from selling the rights to adapt his life story for film.
For example, investigators claimed that fraud and money laundering brought McAfee more than $13 million. Court documents also mentioned Jimmy Gale Watson Jr., who in recent years was responsible for McAfee’s personal security and was part of his “cryptocurrency team.”
Officials alleged that McAfee concealed information about paid endorsements he regularly gave on Twitter, making false statements to his sizable audience. In 2017–2018, McAfee repeatedly promoted various cryptocurrency ICOs on his Twitter account. Essentially, this was paid advertising, which McAfee failed to disclose and even actively denied, despite frequent questions from his followers. As a result, McAfee and his partners earned more than $11 million from such “advertising,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
During this time, McAfee was held in custody in Spain, awaiting a decision on extradition. For the “spring” charges alone, he faced up to 30 years in prison. Since McAfee was already 75 years old, he was likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
“Found Dead”
On the evening of June 23, 2021, numerous Spanish media outlets reported that John McAfee had been found dead in his prison cell. This information was confirmed by the Catalonia Ministry of Justice and McAfee’s lawyers.
According to media reports, McAfee died by suicide and “was found hanged in his cell.” It’s also worth noting that just a few hours earlier, a court had approved his extradition to the United States.
Many now claim that McAfee could not have taken his own life. For years, McAfee had stated that the U.S. government wanted to kill him, and he repeatedly wrote on Twitter that if his death was reported as a suicide, it should not be believed. In 2019, he even dedicated one of his tattoos to this idea.
A more recent tweet, written from prison, read: “Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine.”
If you want to learn more about John McAfee’s eventful life—from founding one of the first antivirus companies to being accused of murdering a neighbor in Belize—check out our separate article.