Antivirus creator John McAfee found dead in Spanish prison cell

June 23 (UPI) -- Antivirus company founder John McAfee was found dead in a Spanish prison cell on Wednesday after he was ordered to be extradited to the United States on charges of tax fraud.

Authorities said they believe McAfee,75, died by suicide in his cell at a prison in Spain's Catalonia region, El Diario reported.

Pending an autopsy, police had not found any evidence of criminality connected to McAfee's death, El Pais reported.

The software mogul's death came after a Spanish court ruled that he was to be extradited to the United States where he faces charges of tax evasion and willful failure to file tax returns for failing to pay taxes from 2014 to 2018 despite earning millions from promoting cryptocurrencies, consulting work, speaking engagements and selling the rights to his life story for a documentary.

McAfee and his associate, Jimmy Gale Watson, have also been charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy for plots to fraudulently promote cryptocurrencies qualifying under federal law as commodities or securities.

In his final tweet last week, McAfee denied hiding cryptocurrencies.

"The U.S. believes I have hidden crypto. I wish I did but it has dissolved through the many hands of Team McAfee (your belief is not required), and my remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association," he wrote.

McAfee founded the antivirus software company, McAfee, in the 1980s and it was later purchased by Intel with him no longer associated in the country.

In 2012, he was reported fleeing his home in Belize after authorities sought to question him as a person of interest in the death of his neighbor.

He also filed paperwork to run for president in the United States in 2015.