John McAfee, the outlandish security software pioneer who tried to live life as a hedonistic outsider while running from a host of legal troubles, was found dead in his jail cell near Barcelona on Wednesday.
His death came just hours after a Spanish court announced that it had approved his extradition to US to face tax charges punishable by decades in jail.
McAfee’s lawyer said he appeared to have hanged himself.
McAfee, who was among other things a cryptocurrency promoter, tax opponent, US presidential candidate and fugitive, who publicly embraced drugs, guns and sex, had a history of legal woes spanning from Tennessee to Central America to the Caribbean.
McAfee had lived for years on the run from US authorities.
He was indicted in Tennessee on tax evasion charges and was charged in a cryptocurrency fraud case in New York.
He was detained on October 3 at Barcelona airport.
McAfee worked for Nasa, Xerox and Lockheed Martin before launching the world’s first commercial anti-virus in 1987.
He sold his software company to Intel in 2011 and no longer had any involvement in the business.
The programme still carries his name and has 500 million users worldwide.
UK-born McAfee twice made long-shot runs for the US presidency and was a participant in Libertarian Party presidential debates in 2016.
He said in 2019 that he had not paid US income taxes for 8 years for ideological reasons.
That year, he left US to avoid trial, largely living on a megayacht with his wife, four dogs, two security guards and seven staff.
McAfee, who said in 2018 that he had fathered at least 47 children, lived in Belize for several years.
He fled after police sought him for questioning in the 2012 murder of a neighbour.
They ultimately said he was not a suspect.
A prolific user of Twitter, McAfee in his last post wrote: “All power corrupts.
Take care which powers you allow a democracy to wield.”
John McAfee: Software pioneer, president candidate, fugitive
