Gambling, Crypto Entrepreneur John McAfee Dead at 75

John McAfee, software entrepreneur, gambling fan and cryptocurrency promoter has allegedly committed suicide while waiting to be extradited from Spain to the US. He was expected to face charges of tax evasion, fraud and more, and the extradition order was just issued a day before his death.

McAfee Rides a Wave of Success

John McAfee got off to a great start in life, arriving during the Internet boom to launch his eponymous computer software company. After amassing hundreds of millions of dollars, he began to expand into other ventures, almost all related to what, at the time, were considered advanced technologies. He explored cryptocurrency, which led him to crypto gambling and seemed to be riding a new wave of success. He was being paid to speak at events and wrote about and promoted cryptocurrencies and other ventures.

In spite of all the negative publicity, at 75 years old, McAfee still remained a high-profile, respected individual for everything positive he had accomplished. Then, in 2019, he teamed up with Wavesbet, a blockchain-based casino, to serve as the platform’s advisor and partner. However, the gambling solution didn’t become the success McAfee had given to his software company. Twice he tried to become the President of the US and both times ended poorly.

Something Out of Place

However, while he was continuing to rake in millions, it seemed something was off. He wasn’t willing to give the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) its cut. The taxman accused him of not paying taxes from 2014 to 2018, and concealing revenue and assets. He seemed, at times, to be proud of his actions, once declaring that taxes were illegal. He had also been investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which accused him of operating a scheme that netted him $23 million, but which was nothing more than fraud.

He was also the subject of an investigation in Belize, where he spent a considerable amount of time, and was, at one point, thought to have been involved in a murder that happened at his estate. Just after that, in 2012, Guatemala arrested him after he allegedly entered the country illegally. He reportedly was seeking asylum in relation to that murder.

The Beginning of the End

McAfee bounced from one country to the next, mostly on a yacht that afforded him greater mobility. He tweeted and posted about his exploits and jaunts before finally ending up in Spain. In October of last year, at the request of the US, he was arrested by Spanish authorities for tax evasion and held in a Barcelona prison pending approval of an extradition order. That order came early yesterday morning and no one, except for perhaps McAfee himself, was expecting what would happen next.

A few hours later, while performing their rounds, prison guards found McAfee, dead in his cell. The cause of death hasn’t been revealed; however, it has been reported that he committed suicide. The tech entrepreneur may have hinted at what was coming last October. He tweeted at the time, “I am content in here. I have friends. The food is good. All is well. Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine.”