John McAfee Dead, Reportedly Due to Suicide - Though He Warned That US Officials Would Kill Him

News is breaking that the anti-virus pioneer John McAfee has been found dead in his prison cell where he was being held awaiting extradition for allegedly evading taxes to the United States, according to The Independent.

Initial information is suggesting that he committed suicide. He was found dead by hanging, police said. He had been held since October.

McAfee was fighting the extradition, believing that if he was sent back, the U.S. wanted to lock him up for the rest of his life.

From The Independent:

“If I am extradited, it is almost certain that I will spend the rest of my life in prison because the United States wants to use me as an example,” he said, according to the Spanish news outlet Europa Press.

Spain agreed to extradite him earlier today.

While the Spanish officials are saying it was a probable suicide which might match the concern shown in his prior remarks about extradition, McAfee has also in the past made it clear that if in fact he was ever found to have “committed suicide” that no one should believe it, that he would have been “whacked.”

Indeed, he even got a tattoo to that effect, apparently hoping that would prevent anything from happening to him.

Getting subtle messages from U.S. officials saying, in effect: "We're coming for you McAfee! We're going to kill yourself". I got a tattoo today just in case. If I suicide myself, I didn't. I was whackd. Check my right arm.$WHACKD available only on https://t.co/HdSEYi9krq🙂 pic.twitter.com/rJ0Vi2Hpjj

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) November 30, 2019

He tweeted:

“I got a tattoo today just in case. If I suicide myself, I didn’t. I was whackd. Check my right arm.”

McAfee had also posted a video a few days ago talking about how power corrupts.

Why power corrupts. pic.twitter.com/cwbKHcaQsd

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 17, 2020

According to the NY Post, his lawyer issued a statement acknowledging his death and attacking U.S. prosecutors for going after him, to begin with.

“John was and will always be remembered as a fighter,” attorney Nishay Sanan said. “He tried to love this country but the US government made his existence impossible.”

“They tried to erase him but they failed,” Sanan wrote.

He added that there was no confirmation on the cause of death.

Needless to say, this is going to excite the same kind of speculation that Jeffrey Epstein’s death did and many aren’t going to believe it was a “suicide.”