British-born U.S. technology entrepreneur John McAfee died on Wednesday by suicide in a Barcelona prison after the Spanish high court authorized his extradition to the United States to face tax evasion charges. McAfee’s lawyer, Javier Villalba, said that the tech entrepreneur died by hanging as his nine months in prison brought him to despair. McAfee was on the run from the U.S. authorities over tax evasions before getting arrested in Spain. 

John McAfee had lived for years on the run from U.S. authorities.

The eccentric personality of the tech world who was always surrounded by controversies hanged himself in his prison cell hours after his extradition to the U.S. was approved. During a court hearing last month, McAfee, 75, said that given his age, he would spend the rest of his life in jail if convicted in the United States. “I am hoping that the Spanish court will see the injustice of this,” he said, adding that “the United States wants to use me as an example.”

John McAfee had lived for years on the run from U.S. authorities, some of that time aboard a megayacht. He was indicted on tax evasion charges and was charged in a cryptocurrency fraud case in New York.

McAfee launched the world’s first commercial anti-virus in 1987.

McAfee worked for NASA, Xerox, and Lockheed Martin before launching the world’s first commercial anti-virus in 1987 with his name. He sold his software company to Intel in 2011 and no longer had any involvement in the business. The program still carries his name and has 500 million users worldwide. The regional justice department confirmed that a U.S. man aged 75 awaiting extradition was found dead in his cell on Wednesday.