Spanish court closes probe into John McAfee's death, rules he died by suicide

A Spanish court, on Friday (Sep 29), closed the investigation into the death of software entrepreneur John McAfee as it ruled that he committed suicide.

McAfee, who launched the world's first commercial anti-virus software in the year 1987, was found dead on June 23, 2021, in his prison cell.

This happened just hours after a Spanish court gave a go-ahead for his extradition to the United States on tax evasion charges.

The British-American mogul had been imprisoned in the Barcelona-area Brians 2 jail for eight months following his arrest after years on the run from US authorities.

Although, in an autopsy, it was determined that he died by suicide, McAfee's widow had said he was not suicidal and that she would seek "answers".

"It's difficult to put into words what life has been like this past year," Janice McAfee wrote in a post last year and had called on the users to sign an online petition "to help pressure" Spanish authorities to release McAfee's remains.

His body has been in a Barcelona morgue, waiting for the court process to be resolved.

"There is not a single element of suspicion, of a charge against a third party, of criminal behaviour," said the ruling, dated July 24 but released on Friday.

"No indications of anything other than a violent death of suicidal origin, nothing at all", the court said.

Why was McAfee in trouble?

McAfee was arrested at Barcelona airport in October 2020 just before boarding a flight to Istanbul.

Since his arrest, he had been kept in prison awaiting extradition to the United States.

He was charged with tax evasion and securities fraud in connection with an alleged Bitcoin pump-and-dump scheme.

McAfee and crypto allegations

McAfee reportedly purchased a large number of cheap cryptocurrencies and then advertised them on the internet. To boost their market price, he allegedly used "false and deceptive tweets."

“McAfee team members collectively earned more than $2 million in illicit profits from their altcoin scalping activities,” the Justice Department had said in 2021.

McAfee shared a post on the internet about the allegations from the prison stating, “The US believes I have hidden crypto. I wish I did but it has dissolved through the many hands of Team McAfee (your belief is not required), and my remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association. I have nothing. Yet, I regret nothing.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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