Spain launches investigation to determine the cause of John McAfee’s death

A court in Spain has opened proceedings to be able to perform an autopsy on the mortal remains of John McAfee, creator of the famous computer antivirus of the same name, and determine the cause of his death in a prison in the country.

McAfee, who was 75 years old, was found dead this past Wednesday in his prison cell in the province of Barcelona (northeast), on the same day that it was known that the Spanish Justice approved his extradition to the United States for alleged evasion of taxes.

The American businessman he was held in preventive detention in the Brians 2 prison in the Barcelona town of Sant Esteve Sesrovires, where according to the first information he committed suicide and to which a judicial procession traveled to investigate the death.

As is mandatory as long as a person does not die a natural death, the corresponding proceedings are opened to carry out an autopsy and determine the causes of death, these sources pointed out.

A court in the Barcelona town of Martorell is handling the case of McAfee, who entered prison last October by order of the Spanish National Court after being detained at the Barcelona airport when he was going to take a flight to Istanbul (Turkey).

The National High Court agreed to extradition to the United States for alleged tax evasion by hiding high income between 2016 and 2018.

During the extradition hearing, the businessman, whose United States tax debt amounts to more than four million dollars, claimed to have paid “millions of dollars in taxes” and said he was the victim of political persecution for having denounced corruption in the tax agency.

“There is no supporting evidence that such a thing could be happening,” replied the National Court, which added that the claim “has protection in a crime against public finances.” and the requirements to agree on it concur.

The creator of the famous antivirus was already arrested in 2012 in Guatemala and in Belize for different reasons and in 2019 in the Dominican Republic with weapons on board his yacht.

The Dominican authorities released him and he traveled to the United Kingdom, where McAfee was born, one of the pioneers of software against computer viruses and instant messaging.