John McAfee, embattled application developer, found dead in Spanish jail
John McAfee, founder of McAfee Antivirus, was uncovered useless in his mobile in a Spanish jail, his law firm confirmed to ABC News. The Spanish Interior Ministry also verified the death.
McAfee, 75, who was a residence title in laptop security software package, faced securities fraud prices and extradition to the U.S. at the time of his dying.
More: John McAfee accused of $23 million securities fraud
Federal prosecutors in New York, exactly where McAfee had been billed with securities fraud, declined ABC News’ ask for for comment soon after the information broke.
Among November 2017 and February 2018, McAfee leveraged his fame as a laptop or computer programmer to make additional than $23 million by recommending a quantity of “preliminary coin offerings” to his Twitter followers, federal prosecutors reported.
The dilemma, according to prosecutors, was that McAfee unsuccessful to disclose he was a paid out pitchman and marketing an investment decision item without the need of disclosing you happen to be getting paid to do so is illegal.
McAfee was arrested in Spain final calendar year for tax evasion. The Affiliated Push noted Wednesday that a Spanish courtroom experienced ruled in favor of his extradition to the U.S. just hours right before he was discovered useless.
McAfee rose to fame for his namesake antivirus computer software organization he started in the 1980s and marketed in the mid-’90s. In a 2017 interview with ABC News’ Matt Gutman, he claims he wrote the antivirus application “in a day and a 50 percent” and that “4 million men and women ended up making use of it inside a month.”
The tech entrepreneur lived a lavish and eccentric way of life — he designed nine homes loaded with costly art and artifacts (which include a dinosaur skull), and purchased a fleet of planes and antique autos at a single issue in advance of he was hit hard by the Good Economic downturn and liquidated most of his assets, for every his 2017 ABC Information job interview.
At a person place he was a “particular person of fascination” in a Belize murder case, and when he was set to be deported to Belize he claims he faked a coronary heart attack. He was never arrested or charged in relationship with the loss of life, and has denied any involvement.
McAfee also ran to turn into the Libertarian Party candidate for president in 2016.
He is survived by his spouse, Janice McAfee. In his final tweet, John McAfee retweeted a Father’s Day concept posted by his wife to his 1 million followers.
“Although you are paying the working day in jail know that you are liked and appreciated,” his wife’s put up stated.
ABC News’ Aicha El Hammar Castano, Aaron Katersky and Kirit Radia contributed to this report.
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