# John McAfee dead in a Spanish prison? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 23, 2021, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908 "2021-06-23T20:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/1 "2021-06-23T20:47:43Z")
[Not how I expected him to go, honestly.](https://finance.yahoo.com/spanish-court-oks-extradition-mcafee-134640645.html) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/2 "2021-06-23T20:49:19Z")
Was he sick from a virus? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/3 "2021-06-23T20:50:45Z")
Presumed suicide He was to be extradited to the US to face tax charges… > **[Larger-than-life software mogul John McAfee dies in Spain by suicide, lawyer...](https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/john-mcafee-found-dead-prison-after-spanish-court-allows-extradition-2021-06-23/)** > > British-born U.S. technology entrepreneur John McAfee died on Wednesday by suicide in a Barcelona prison after the Spanish high court authorised his extradition to the United States on tax evasion charges, his lawyer told Reuters. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/4 "2021-06-23T20:51:16Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Was he sick from a virus? I saw what you did there. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/5 "2021-06-23T20:51:34Z")
Yeah, I expected more of a guns blazing last stand. Guy was a nut. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/6 "2021-06-23T20:51:48Z")
> [McAfee,] argued in a hearing earlier this month that the charges against him were politically motivated and that he would spend the rest of his life in prison if he was returned to the U.S. It turns out he did spend the rest of his life in prison. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/7 "2021-06-23T20:56:16Z")
(repeating the comment I made in the death pool thread) Does Peter Norton have an alibi? Brian ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/8 "2021-06-23T20:59:08Z")
I would have expected him to explode from some combination of drugs and craziness. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/9 "2021-06-23T21:02:10Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > Does Peter Norton have an alibi? > > Brian I would ask that to Kaspersky… ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/10 "2021-06-23T21:03:40Z")
I had John McAfee dead in a Turkish prison. Lost a bit of money. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/11 "2021-06-23T21:36:29Z")
When I saw the thread title, I got confused and thought this was about [John McPhee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McPhee). ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/12 "2021-06-23T22:00:53Z")
Oh crap. Died over a tax charge. That sucks and is messed up. But the Feds would have thrown the book at him. McAfee was borderline genius. Developed the first effective anti-virus. It saved me a lot of grief at work. Saving computers and our network from virus. McAfee anti-virus eventually lost its effectiveness as viruses got more sophisticated. That was after John had left development and then finally sold to Intel in 2011. I always wondered what went wrong. John suffered from massive paranoia for a long time. Being chased by the Feds over taxes just fed his mental illness. I guess dying in a Fed prison was too much for him to face. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/13 "2021-06-23T22:33:32Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I always wondered what went wrong. John suffered from massive paranoia for a long time. Being chased by the Feds over taxes just fed his mental illness. I guess dying in a Fed prison was too much for him to face. I think it was a combination of mental illness and him taking ALL the drugs. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/14 "2021-06-23T22:48:27Z")
Yup, Drugs can make underlying mental problems much worse. Peter Norton and John McAfee were my Computer Nerd heroes in 1986. I admired their early work on pcs. I learned so much from Norton’s books. AFAIK Norton sold to Symantec and has lived a quiet life. McAfee did just the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/15 "2021-06-23T23:16:12Z")
Death (by my own hand) before taxes!!! ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/16 "2021-06-23T23:18:07Z")
Reminds me of Gary Kildall’s end, but way weirder ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/17 "2021-06-24T02:29:40Z")
One of the _Wired_ articles on McAfee. > **[John McAfee, Unhinged: His Bizarre Breaks From Reality](https://www.wired.com/2012/11/mcafee-unhinged/)** > > McAfee is a complex and volatile person. I can say that in my two visits to Belize, and in dozens of phone conversations, McAfee was reasonable and lucid. But on a number of occasions, he snapped. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/19 "2021-06-24T08:06:25Z")
Just to feed the conspiracies he himself [twittered](https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/1316801215083225096) that he would not kill himself. I wonder if I planned to kill myself or knew that I could do in one of my fits, would i write something like this just to sow some doubts? Security in Barcelona’s jails seems to be a low priority. Not only did he have a phone to tweet. he also got a rope and a place to tie it to. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/20 "2021-06-24T08:14:36Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Just to feed the conspiracies he himself [twittered](https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/1316801215083225096) that he would not kill himself. From your link: > Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine. That’s not exactly saying he won’t be killing himself - just that it won’t be his fault. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908/21 "2021-06-24T13:27:48Z")
I guess it turns out that the only way to completely uninstall McAfee is if the universe does it for you. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcafee-dead-in-a-spanish-prison/944908.md?page=2)