JAILED software tycoon John McAfee’s “suicide” came after he tweeted from his cell: “If I die like Epstein, I didn’t do it”.
The anti-virus tech mogul, 75, allegedly killed himself on Wednesday hours after a judge agreed to extradite him to the US on tax evasion and cryptocurrency scam charges.
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Gun-loving McAfee had been arrested in Spain last October as he boarded a flight to Turkey.
Weeks later, he told his 1.1million Twitter followers from prison in Barcelona: “I am content in here. The food is good. All is well.
“Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine.”
It was a reference to the disgraced tycoon Jeffrey Epstein, found hanged in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on underage sex trafficking charges.
Conspiracy theorists have suggested Epstein was murdered by high-profile authority figures who feared he would implicate them.
A year before his arrest, McAfee tweeted that US officials were out to get him after he spoke out against alleged corruption.
The party-loving renegade wrote: “If I suicide myself, I didn’t. I was whacked.”
McAfee's lawyer Javier Villalba said “nobody expected” his client’s death.
He said it “did not come in the heat of the moment” as McAfee learned of the extradition ruling the day before he was found dead.
He said McAfee had been preparing a case to try to block his return.
The Spanish authorities have ordered an autopsy.
McAfee was born in 1945 on a US Army base in Cinderford, Gloucs, to an American dad and a British mum.
He was raised in the US and was 15 when his alcoholic father shot himself.
In 1987, he founded McAfee Associates, which developed the world’s first anti-virus software. The firm went public in 1994 and McAfee sold his stake for $100million (£72million), giving up all involvement.
In 2012, McAfee was accused of shooting a neighbour in Belize. He denied the murder and was ordered to pay $25million damages.
A year on, he released a YouTube video showing him shirtless and seemingly sniffing coke and bath salts while surrounded by women.
McAfee, who admitted using drugs, fled the US in 2019 supposedly owing $4million in tax.
He sailed the Caribbean with wife Janice and armed with pistols and shotguns — often showing his arsenal online.
In 2019 he claimed to live with seven women aged from 18 to 25. He told The Sun: “People can think what they want. The women all got along.”
The same year he was arrested trying to enter the Dominican Republic with a boat full of guns. In 2020, he claimed to have 47 children, 67 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
Digital currency investor Anthony Pompliano paid tribute to “one of the world’s most unique individuals”.
He said: “He was kind, funny and incredibly intelligent. RIP.”
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