The Mysterious Death of John McAfee

The Mysterious Death of John McAfee

The Mysterious Death of John McAfee

John McAfee, an entrepreneur and the founder of one of the most renowned anti-virus software

John McAfee, the founder of one of the most renowned anti-virus software i.e., ‘McAfee’, was found dead in a prison cell in Barcelona. The local police is suspecting his death as a suicide. He did this after the Spanish court decided to deport him to the US, where he was to face the charges for tax evasion.

As per the Catalan justice department, the 75-year-old was tried to be resuscitated by the medics but, remained unsuccessful. The provided report further added that the circumstantial evidences indicate that McAfee had taken his own life.

Born in Gloucestershire, this tech entrepreneur became the talk of town in England in the 1980s. as he founded his tech company and launched McAfee VirusScan.

McAfee VirusScan gave a boost of multi-billion-dollar revenues in the IT industry. However, it was later acquired for more than $7.6bn (£4.7bn) by a tech giant “Intel”.

Ever since the launch of the first commercial anti-virus software by his company, McAfee has appeared to be a controversial figure in the tech world.

Despite of being known as a pioneer of computer security, he claimed in an interview with BBC that he never used his own or any other anti-virus software on his personal computers.

In 2013, he said “I protect myself by constantly changing my IP [internet protocol] address, by not attaching my name to any device I use, and by not going on to sites where you might pick up a virus,” while giving interview to BBC’s technology reporter Leo Kelion.

He further added in his interview, “Porn sites, for example, I just don’t go there.”

His life journey had been flavorful as he tried his luck in politics and launched unsuccessful bids for becoming the Libertarian Party’s candidate for the presidential elections in 2016 and 2020.

The recent controversy of his life started with a tweet which he posted from his personal social media account in 2019 in which McAfee expressed his contempt for taxes while admitting that he had not been filing tax returns for eight years because he thinks that “taxation is illegal.”

Later on, his act of allegedly bringing weapons into the country had him briefly detained in the Dominican Republic and added fuel to the fire.

Eventually, John McAfee got arrested in October 2020 in Spain while he was boarding a plane to Turkey. He was charged for not filing tax returns for four years despite of earning millions from providing tech consultations, public speaking sessions, investing in crypto-currencies etc.

McAfee was alleged for tax evasion by being paid via his bank accounts and cryptocurrency exchange accounts in the names of nominees.

Concealing assets was another charge that he was booked for. He is said to own a yacht and various real estate properties in other people’s names.

On 23rd June, 2021, Spain’s National Court authorized the US Department of Justice to arrest McAfee so that he can face the charges as per the US laws.

Earlier this month, McAfee argued during his court trail claiming that the charges against him were purely based on some political agenda and that if he had been deported to the US, he would never be able to make out of the prison.

McAfee’s lawyer, Nishay Sanan said that his suicide is a political monopoly because he never intended to run away from the charges.

During his interview to NPR after McAfee’s death, Sanan said “This is again the US government trying to erase John McAfee.” He added, “This man was a fighter and in the minds of everyone who knew him, he will always be a fighter.” The above statement turns a lot heads and now public is demanding to have McAfee’s case investigated thoroughly.

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