--- title: "John McAfee Found Dead in Prison Cell" description: "John McAfee, software pioneer, has died by apparent suicide in his Spanish prison cell Wednesday evening, the New York Post reports." date: "2021-06-23" modified: "2021-06-24" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/john-mcafee-found-dead" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "john mcafee" - "sec" - "securities and exchange commission" - "tax fraud" --- # John McAfee Found Dead in Prison Cell ![John McAfee, software pioneer, has died by apparent suicide in his Spanish prison cell Wednesday evening, the New York Post reports.]() *\Image: Gage Skidmore\* John McAfee, an eccentric software pioneer who lived on the lam for many years, was found dead in a Spanish prison cell Wednesday evening. According to a statement released by the Catalan justice department and [obtained by *Reuters*](), suicide is the most likely cause. The news comes just hours after news emerged that McAfee [would face extradition]() to the US after a Spanish High Court ruling. McAfee [was arrested]() at Barcelona's airport in October 2020 on tax evasion charges. A [10-count indictment]() filed in Tennessee accused him of evading taxes on millions of dollars in income. McAfee was a veteran headline maker. In 2018, the eccentric millionaire [claimed he was poisoned]() by "his enemies," according to a tweet. He also became embroiled with the US Securities and Exchange Commission at the time, [accusing them]() of endangering his life for promoting new cryptocurrencies. He had also sometimes demonstrated a paranoid streak, [posting in 2019]() that unspecified "US officials" intended to kill him and make it look like a suicide. "If I suicide myself, I didn't," he wrote at the time. "I was whackd. \[sic\]" McAfee also was forced to run his second US presidential campaign in 2019 [in exile]() to avoid being charged for tax fraud. He ran for the Libertarian Party nomination for president of the United States in both 2016 and 2020. The entrepreneur most famously founded the software company McAfee Associates in 1987, which later became a successful commercial antivirus software. He was 75 at the time of his death. **READ MORE:** [U.S. software mogul John McAfee dies by hanging in Spanish prison - lawyer says]() \[*Reuters*\] **More on McAfee:** *[John McAfee's Manager Threatens to Release Secret Data "Payloads"]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()