Cybersecurity
Tax offenses
McAfee, the creator of the McAfee virus software , was arrested last October at Barcelona’s international airport as he was about to board a flight to Istanbul. At that time, a judge ordered that McAfee should be held in jail while awaiting the outcome of a hearing on extradition.
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The arrest of the entrepreneur came a day after authorities had made public a US indictment stemming from his alleged tax offense. Tennessee prosecutors had charged McAfee with evading taxes after failing to report income made from promoting cryptocurrencies while he did consultancy work, as well as income from speaking engagements and selling the rights to his life story for a documentary.
On Wednesday, Spain’s highest court had approved McAfee’s extradition to the United States, although the decision could be appealed and his final extradition would have had to be approved by the Spanish cabinet.
“The court agrees to grant the extradition of John David McAfee as requested by the American judicial authorities for the crimes referred to in the tax offense indictments for years 2016 to 2018,” read the 16-page ruling.
The ruling also made clear that the US charges referred to the three fiscal years from 2016 to 2018.
In a hearing held via videolink earlier this month, McAfee had argued that the charges against him were politically motivated and said he would spend the rest of his life in prison if he was returned to the US.
Erratic behavior
Since making a fortune in the 1980s with the software that still bears his name, McAfee had engaged in increasingly erratic behavior, most recently as a self-styled cryptocurrency guru claiming to make $2,000 a day.
His namesake company ultimately became a household entity in antivirus security, but tried to distance itself from the controversial businessman after he resigned in 1994.
McAfee was ultimately purchased by the computer chip maker Intel in 2010 for $7.7bn, which sought to dissociate the brand from its controversial founder by folding it into its larger cybersecurity division. The rebranding was short-lived, and Intel in 2016 spun out the cybersecurity unit into a new company called McAfee.
McAfee’s personal life has often drawn as much interest as his professional achievements. He twice made long-shot runs for the US presidency and was a participant in Libertarian party presidential debates in 2016. He dabbled in yoga, ultra-light aircraft and producing herbal medications.
He frequently touted conspiracy theories on social media became the subject of frenzied media scrutiny following the unsolved 2012 murder of a neighbour in Belize. McAfee said he knew nothing about the murder, but was worried he might have been the attacker’s intended target.
When the police found him living with a 17-year-old girl and discovered a large arsenal of weapons in his home in the Central American country, McAfee disappeared on a month-long flight that drew breathless media coverage.
The dead neighbour’s family later filed a wrongful death suit against McAfee and last year a court in Florida found against him, ordering him to pay the family more than $25m.
CYBERSECURITY
TAX OFFENSES
In 2015, McAfee was arrested in the US for driving under the influence and possession of a gun while under the influence.
In July 2019, he was released from detention in the Dominican Republic after he and five others were suspected of travelling on a yacht carrying high-calibre weapons, ammunition and military-style gear, officials in the Caribbean island said at the time.
In March, he was charged in a Manhattan federal court over a pump and dump scheme involving cryptocurrencies he was promoting to his large social media following.
In a tweet on 16 June, he said the US authorities believed he had “hidden crypto. I wish I did,” he said.
“My remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association. I have nothing. Yet, I regret nothing.”
Conspiracy theorists have already seized on McAfee’s death, editing his Wikipedia page to state he was murdered. His apparent suicide comes after he shared tweets about the poor conditions in prison, stating “there is much sorrow in prison, disguised as hostility”.
Hours after his death, a post featuring the letter Q was shared to McAfee’s Instagram account. The image is probably a reference to QAnon – the baseless conspiracy theory that there exists a secret world order of satanic pedophiles being battled in secret by Donald Trump.
In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 and online chat is also available. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org
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AUTHOR: Sam Jones in Madrid, Kari Paul in San Francisco and agencies Wed 23 Jun 2021 22.46 BST
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