Antivirus software tycoon, John McAfee, apparently hanged himself in a Spanish jail cell on Wednesday — just hours after a court ruled he would be extradited to face federal charges in the US.
Authorities said a preliminary investigation determined there were no signs of foul play, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported.
The 75-year-old eccentric tech entrepreneur was arrested in October and was awaiting extradition in the Barcelona jail when he was found dead by hanging; police sources told El Pais.
The newspaper reported McAfee was pulled from his cell in Barcelona and police are investigating the circumstances around his death.
“Everything points to suicide,” the newspaper reported, citing justice department officials in the country. A second Spanish newspaper, El Mundo, also reported McAfee had died by apparent suicide in the jail.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Spanish High Court had agreed to extradite McAfee, charged with several federal financial crimes in two districts in the United States.
In a statement Wednesday, his lawyer confirmed that McAfee was found dead in his cell and chided US prosecutors for their case against him.
“John was and will always be remembered as a fighter,” attorney Nishay Sanan said. “He tried to love this country but the US government made his existence impossible.”
“They tried to erase him but they failed,” Sanan wrote.
He added that there was no confirmation on the cause of death.
McAfee was hit with a 10-count indictment in the Western District of Tennessee in October for allegedly evading taxes on millions of dollars in income.
