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Anti-virus creator, John McAfee, found dead in prison cell

John McAfee, the anti-virus software entrepreneur, has been found dead in a Barcelona prison cell.

The software developer was found dead hours after a Spanish court agreed to extradite him to the US to answer for charges related to tax evasion.

According to local media, following his discovery, prison medics at the Catalan Justice Department tried, however unsuccessful, to resuscitate the tech mogul.

Speaking on the development, authorities noted that there were indications that the software engineer committed suicide.

McAfee lived a controversial life, and in the tech world was reputed for developing the first commercial anti-virus software.

Last year, McAfee was arrested in Spain over tax evasion charges.

He was accused of failing to file tax returns for four years, despite earning millions from consulting work, speaking engagements, crypto-currencies and selling the rights to his life story.

John McAfee charged with fraud over cryptocurrency

Businessman John McAfee, creator of the McAfee anti-virus software, has been charged in the US with conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering.

Mr McAfee and his bodyguard Jimmy Gale Watson Jr are accused of promoting cryptocurrencies to Mr McAfee’s large Twitter following to inflate prices.

The currencies were then allegedly sold, making the pair $13m (£9.4m), prosecutors said.

The men have not commented on the charges.

Mr McAfee is currently being detained in Spain in relation to separate criminal charges relating to tax, which he denies.

Mr Watson was arrested on Thursday night.

Under the charges filed in the Manhattan federal court in New York, the pair are accused of buying the crypto-currency assets before promoting them on Twitter, where Mr McAfee has more than one million followers.

They would then sell the assets as soon as Mr McAfee’s endorsements saw prices rise, according to the US Department of Justice and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

That amounted to having “exploited a widely used social media platform and enthusiasm among investors in the emerging cryptocurrency market to make millions through lies and deception,” US Attorney in Manhattan Audrey Strauss said.